Case value nears RMB 30 million, over 40 arrested as illegal e-cigarette supply chain spanning five

In April this year, the Public Security Bureau of Yuanjiang City, Hunan Province, quickly organized a task force led by Political Commissar Liu Qiang and Deputy Chief of the Economic Investigation Brigade, Cao Peitian, to investigate a case after obtaining clues about illegal operations involving e-cigarettes in the area.

The task force followed the working idea of "tracing the source, attacking upstream, and cutting off the chain," conducting online and offline assessments and gathering evidence simultaneously. Through line tracing, police seized a package full of counterfeit e-cigarettes at a courier point in Yuanjiang City. Using the information on the package, they quickly identified and apprehended the suspect, Liu.

Seized counterfeit e-cigarette packaging boxes

“I didn’t know anything; I was just paid to do the packaging, trying to make it look as real as possible,” Liu confessed upon his arrest, stating that he was merely doing a job for money and had no knowledge of the production of counterfeit cigarettes.

Why was Liu able to hold so many counterfeit cigarettes? The investigating police keenly noticed that Liu was just the tip of the iceberg in the entire counterfeit cigarette sales network, and there must be a large criminal gang behind him. As the investigation deepened, a massive counterfeit cigarette sales network gradually surfaced.

After two months of tracing, police discovered that Liu's superior, Zhang, was processing and producing large quantities of counterfeit cigarettes in Yunnan, which were then transported to Yuanjiang and other places for assembly and production, and then distributed to Guangdong. A complete industrial chain suspected of illegal operations, spanning Hunan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, and extending nationwide and even abroad, has been basically clarified.

Counterfeit e-cigarette manufacturing workshop

The case was significant, involving many people. Even after identifying the suspects, the close connections within their illegal industrial chain made it easy to be discovered with the slightest misstep, complicating the arrest efforts. However, as the saying goes, "strike the snake at its seven inches," the police quickly formulated a scientific arrest plan, starting with the salesperson Chen from Guangdong.

After four days of surveillance, the police faced a dilemma. The suspect Chen had an elderly mother at home with health issues. The police were concerned that if the elderly woman saw her son being arrested, it might cause her condition to worsen. Moreover, Chen had to pick up his child from school every day, and the police worried that the arrest process might negatively impact the child's mental health. After much consideration, the police abandoned these arrest opportunities and decided to choose another location. Ultimately, they apprehended Chen on his way to the factory.

Subsequently, the task force conducted arrests across the country, capturing over 40 suspects in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Beijing, Zhejiang, and other places, seizing 16,900 kg of tobacco, 297.85 kg of nicotine, 30.1 kg of nicotine, 183 kg of e-liquid, 47,280 e-cigarette accessories, 9,919 e-cigarette packaging boxes, 470,260 counterfeit packaging shells, 64,786 finished e-cigarettes, 74 production tools and machines, 243,626 e-cigarette production accessories, 5 involved office computers, 17 involved mobile phones, 8 involved bank cards, and the case value neared 30 million RMB.

Staff from Shenzhen's IQOS company presented a banner of appreciation.

Police Reminder:

In our country, the production, sale, import, and export of tobacco monopoly products are legally managed under a monopoly system, and a tobacco monopoly license system is implemented. It is illegal to operate tobacco without a "Tobacco Monopoly License." However, many criminals still take risks to illegally operate tobacco monopoly products for profit, ultimately facing legal consequences.