US$30m fake cigarette racket busted

Police in east China’s Zhejiang Province have detained 23 suspects in connection to a more than 210 million yuan (US$30 million) counterfeit cigarette racket.

The local tobacco department and traffic police found a suspicious truck in Quzhou City on January 1 and seized almost 12,000 cartons of cigarettes and captured a suspect.

The provincial tobacco quality supervision and examination office later confirmed that the cigarettes were fake and worth more than 1.6 million yuan.

The public security bureau of Quzhou established a special team to investigate the case on January 2.

After six months of investigation, police found a gang led by a suspect surnamed Qian, who produced fake cigarettes overseas, smuggled them into China and then sold them in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu Province and Shandong Province.

Quzhou police said they have so far detained 23 suspects including 11 people involved in fake cigarette manufacturing and management overseas.

A total of 17 suspects were transferred for prosecution on Tuesday.