Smugglers caught under cover of night
Members of the coast guard check a tank on a boat allegedly used to smuggle diesel in Shanghai waters.
Thirteen people were apprehended in Shanghai on Wednesday night for allegedly smuggling diesel, the coast guard said on Thursday.
The seized diesel weighed over 1,000 tons and cost over 7 million yuan (US$1 million), the coast guard said.
A patrol boat spotted a suspicious vessel near the Pudong International Airport at 9pm on Wednesday and ordered it to stop for a check. Instead it tried to speed off.
It didn't get far, however, and when the boat was boarded some 500 tons of diesel was found. Without any legal documents, it was deemed suspicious.
At 11pm, the patrol boat discovered two boats dropping anchors and approaching each other at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The larger boat was unloading goods to the smaller boat, according to the coast guard.
After the patrol boat sounded the alarm, the smaller boat fled the scene, but members of the coast guard took control of the larger boat.
On it, they also found about 500 tons of diesel also with no indication of its source. Several oil pipes were scattered on the deck, a sign that the boat had been piping diesel to the smaller boat.
The suspects are said to have confessed to smuggling diesel to other boats in Shanghai waters, doing it at night to avoid detection.
Members of the coast guard check a boat alleged to have been used to smuggle diesel.
