1 Million Devices, 2.5 Million Cartridges, Over RMB 40 Million Involved: Major Illegal Vaping Case C

According to a report by the China National Radio Network on September 26, the Nanning County Public Security Bureau in Hunan Province announced on the morning of September 26 that, together with the Nanning County Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, it had successfully solved a major case involving the illegal manufacturing and sale of e-cigarettes. Four production sites were destroyed, 21 suspects were arrested, and the amount involved exceeded RMB 40 million. This is reportedly the first typical case in Hunan Province in which the entire chain of an integrated illegal e-cigarette production, supply, and sales network was dismantled.

The task force, together with the Nanning County Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, formed multiple arrest teams and carried out coordinated enforcement operations in Dongguan and Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. They arrested 21 suspects including Li and destroyed 12 e-cigarette production, storage, and sales sites. At the scene, more than 100,000 e-cigarette devices, 250,000 finished cartridges, and over 300 pieces of e-cigarette-related production equipment were seized.

According to the original report, since October 2022, the criminal gang led by Li had been using multiple electronics factories in Qingjiangqiao Township, Nanning County, and Dongguan, Guangdong Province, as counterfeit e-cigarette production sites without obtaining an e-cigarette production and business license. Using the e-cigarette parts distribution area in Dongguan, Guangdong Province as its source of raw materials, the gang illegally produced and sold more than 10,000 self-developed YFK-BOX e-cigarettes.

The report stated that the gang later counterfeited the trademark and packaging of a well-known e-cigarette brand, producing and selling more than 100,000 units of a certain brand e-cigarette and 650,000 e-cigarette cartridges, with a cumulative involved value of over RMB 40 million. After identification by the Hunan Provincial Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, the e-cigarettes and cartridges produced by the gang were all substandard and counterfeit products.

Li and the other 20 suspects have all been subjected to criminal compulsory measures by the Nanning County Public Security Bureau in accordance with the law. The case has now been fully investigated and has been transferred to the Nanning County People’s Procuratorate for review and prosecution.