42 Arrested: Zibo Police Bust Illegal Vaping Operation Worth Over RMB 20 Million

Recently, the Zhangdian Branch of the Zibo City Public Security Bureau investigated a suspected illegal business case and destroyed shoddy productse-cigarettesFactory 3, 42 suspects were arrested, involving more than 20 million yuan. More than 200,000 e-cigarettes were involved.

Parents reported that men were investigated for selling" milk tea cups "

In March this year, Zhangdian police received a clue from the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau of Zhangdian District that someone illegally sold e-cigarettes in a commercial district of Zhangdian, with a huge amount of money.

On March 2, the brigade directly under the branch filed a case for investigation. The police learned that a parent reported that someone was selling e-cigarettes in a shop in Zhangdian. After investigation, the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau of Zhangdian District found that this shop illegally operated e-cigarettes without a license and the amount was huge, which was handed over to the public security organs for handling.

Police immediately rushed to the store and seized a large number of e-cigarettes marked with the words" milk tea cups "and" coke cans ". These e-cigarettes were all cartoon shapes and tasted various fruit flavors. Operator Wang not only illegally manages e-cigarettes without a license, but also illegally manages e-cigarettes with cartoon shapes and fruity taste that are prohibited by state orders. He openly touches the legal red line and induces minors to smoke, seriously endangering the physical and mental health of young people.# p#pagination title #e#

The case was serious, and the branch immediately set up a special task force to investigate Wang's online presence and the e-cigarette manufacturer.

Wanli traced it and seized more than 30,000 counterfeit e-cigarettes on the spot

According to Wang, he contacted online through WeChat and sold it after purchasing e-cigarettes. However, he did not know the real name and specific address of the online company. Comprehensive big data analysis, etc., the police of the task force confirmed that Wang was online in Guangdong.

The police rushed to Guangdong, where they further arranged and waited in many places in Guangdong, determined the trajectory of Wang's online actions, and identified the production dens and production and sales routes of e-cigarettes.

The time has come to centrally close the network!

On June 6, the police officers of the task force were divided into three groups to carry out a network shutdown operation in Guangdong Province.

Police tracked the delivery vehicle all the way to a community in Foshan City, Guangdong Province. When the suspect was carrying e-cigarettes into the warehouse, three people were arrested on the spot and more than 30,000 counterfeit e-cigarettes were seized.

Police officers along the way were squatting in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province. At about 12 noon, two middlemen went downstairs to prepare to drive. The squatting police quickly attacked, arrested the two men, and found more than 400,000 yuan in cash from one of them's home.

The third-route police arrested two people in charge of a fake e-cigarette production workshop in a community in Shenzhen.

Continue to arrest 42 people, arrested and involved more than 20 million yuan

This is a well-organized gang that produces and sells counterfeit e-cigarettes. Some people are responsible for contacting customers for sales and providing funds, others are responsible for finding production locations and organizing production; some are responsible for purchasing tools and technical guidance, and some are responsible for delivering goods. The organizational context of this gang involves 10 urban areas in 9 provinces including Guangdong, Shandong, and Hebei.

#p#Pagination Title #e#

In order to eliminate this gang in the entire chain, the police of the special case team worked tirelessly and continued to fight in other places. A total of 42 people were arrested, 7 people have been approved for arrest, and 35 people have been released on bail pending trial. In Zhongshan City and Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, three workshops for illegally making fake and inferior e-cigarettes were destroyed, involving a total amount of more than 20 million yuan.

At present, Zhangdian police are further studying and analyzing, digging deep into clues, and preparing to launch a national cluster campaign.

The national standard for" electronic cigarettes "officially implemented on October 1, 2022 clearly stipulates thate-cigarette productsIt should not be inducement to minors, and the characteristic flavor of the product should not be made to present other flavors than tobacco. This ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes aims to better protect minors from e-cigarettes. However, some illegal production enterprises that have not obtained production and operation licenses are driven by profits and take risks to illegally produce non-national standard fruity e-cigarettes wearing "vests" such as "milk tea cups" and "coke cans".# p#pagination title #e#

Market inspection results show that this kind of illegal and shoddy goods not only have complex ingredients, worrying product quality, and prominent safety hazards, but also have concealed and deceptive packaging design. They look similar to children's toys, trendy drinks or cool foods, and are not yet mature. Minors are highly attractive and inductive, seriously endangering the physical and mental health of minors. The online sales channels adopted by criminals are more covert, and some even lure minors into becoming distribution agents offline, straying into illegal and criminal paths.