SHANGHAI: Sixteen people have been detained and four others granted bail after more than 4,000 cartons of cigarettes were seized by customs officers at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, officials said yesterday.
They include airport staff and employees of a Chinese airline, which wasn’t named, and it is alleged they took advantage of management loopholes at the airport to smuggle goods into China.
The alleged smugglers involved were mostly under the age of 26 with some younger than 21, officials said. Four had received administrative penalties between January and March this year for possessing foreign cigarettes over the allowed amount.
Four suspects with around 800 cartoons of Seven Star, Marlboro and Peace brands were apprehended in the airport parking lot on April 21, officials said yesterday, with the others arrested later that night. Further enquiries led to the discovery of 3,200 cartons of cigarettes believed to have been smuggled in from Japan. Officials declined to put a value on the total haul but, based on their price in Japan, the cigarettes could be worth more than 800,000 yuan (US$122,000).
The arrests and seizures came after a three-month investigation by customs, police and China Tobacco.
A customs officer said: “Nine of the suspected smugglers traveled between Shanghai and Osaka in Japan three to four times a week on average. Sometimes they even made a return trip in a single day.”
He added: “The case has a very bad impact as it involves staff of the airport and an airline. It is cigarettes this time, but what if they take advantage of loopholes to smuggle more dangerous products?”
Officials said smugglers used two methods to bring cigarettes into the country.
In one, staff would transfer luggage bound for the carousel for international flights to the one for domestic to escape’ scrutiny.
In the other, smugglers are directed to a hall serving passengers transferring between international and domestic flights at time when no customs officers are on duty.
The anonymous customs officer said that evidence pointed to the involvement of five ground personnel from the same airline.
He added: “In addition, five of the alleged smugglers also worked in the airport once, in places including duty free shops, so they are very familiar with the complicated environment of the airport.”
The investigation is ongoing.
