Case value exceeds 31 million yuan: Baiyin police dismantle a counterfeit e-cigarette criminal chain

On August 15, the Tongcheng Branch of the Baiyin City Public Security Bureau, with strong support from relevant departments of the municipal bureau, successfully cracked the "7.18" major illegal production and sale of vaping devices online criminal case, dismantling a criminal chain involving counterfeit brand vaping devices across multiple provinces and cities.

On August 17, the Baiyin City Public Security Bureau Tongcheng Branch held a welcome ceremony to celebrate the return of the special investigation team. Li Haihong, head of the discipline inspection and supervision team stationed at the municipal public security bureau and a member of the municipal bureau's party committee, attended the ceremony to congratulate the special investigation team members and extend warm greetings. Li Zhaojun, secretary of the Tongcheng Branch Party Committee and director, along with members of the branch's party committee and representatives from the municipal tobacco monopoly bureau, participated in the welcome ceremony.

In mid-July 2023, police from the comprehensive strike team of the Tongcheng Branch discovered that a local individual, Liu, had purchased a certain brand of vaping device through adding a WeChat friend, which raised suspicions of illegal business operations. After in-depth analysis, it was found that the WeChat account user, Zhang, was selling a large number of counterfeit brand vaping devices online, involving a significant amount of money. Upon obtaining this clue, the Tongcheng Branch immediately established a special investigation team for the "7.18 illegal business case" and mobilized key personnel to carry out the investigation.

With the support of higher-level public security agencies, the special investigation team gradually grasped the basic situation of the criminal gang's illegal production and sale of fruit-flavored vaping devices, including its organizational structure, scale of illegal operations, and sales channels, and gradually peeled away a criminal chain that integrated production, warehousing, and online distribution, with the amount involved exceeding 31 million yuan.

On the evening of August 15, with strong support from relevant departments of higher-level public security agencies, the special investigation team carried out a concentrated and unified operation in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hebei, Shandong, and other places, successfully arresting 29 criminal suspects, dismantling one illegal vaping device processing factory, four warehousing and distribution dens, seizing nine production machines, and confiscating over 64,000 fruit-flavored vaping pods, 868 vaping devices, over 10,000 empty pods, 50 sets of disposable vaping devices, 797.5 kilograms of vaping liquid, and over 137,000 packaging papers, with an on-site seizure value of over 3 million yuan. This achieved a comprehensive crackdown on the entire chain from production, storage to sales.