China: Crackdown on Counterfeit E-cigarettes Worth over 1.4 Million USD

According to a report by Sina News on March 15th, the Panzhihua police successfully cracked down on a case of illegal production and sale of counterfeit e-cigarettes, arresting 9 criminal suspects and seizing 3 e-cigarette retail stores. They also shut down one e-cigarette manufacturing factory and two storage locations, confiscating goods worth over 5 million yuan and involving over 10 million yuan. This has significantly disrupted illegal activities in the food and drug safety field. Currently, 8 suspects have been prosecuted.

On March 15, 2024, according to a report from Sina News, the Public Security Bureau in Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province successfully cracked a serious case of illegal production and sale of counterfeit e-cigarettes. Nine criminal suspects were arrested, three e-cigarette retail stores were seized, one e-cigarette manufacturing company was raided, and two storage locations were found. The value of the items involved exceeded 5 million yuan, with the case amounting to over 10 million yuan. This operation effectively cracked down on illegal activities in the fields of food, medicine, and environmental protection.

According to reports, the case originated in June 2023, when the Renhe Sub-bureau of the Panzhihua Public Security Bureau received a tip-off that two shops in Renhe Town were suspected of selling unapproved "non-tobacco" flavored e-cigarettes. Subsequently, the police seized more than 200 boxes of "non-tobacco" flavored e-cigarettes in a joint operation and arrested suspects Li, Zhou, and Zhang. After investigation, it was found that the two shops had illegally sold e-cigarettes worth over 100,000 yuan.

Further investigation has revealed that the brand of e-cigarette in question is being manufactured and sold illegally by a suspect named Jiang and his wife, Wang, since early 2021. The production facility is located in another province. Despite the official implementation of the mandatory national standard for e-cigarettes on October 1, 2022, which requires all e-cigarette production and sales to obtain the necessary licenses, Jiang and others continue to disregard regulations and engage in production and sales activities.

The special task force police officers discovered during their investigation that Jiang and others had formed a complete criminal chain, with clear divisions of labor in purchasing, manufacturing, transporting, and selling. The amount involved in the case was huge, and the criminal behavior spanned a long period of time, with suspects located in multiple provinces and cities. After continuous investigation and research, the police, under unified command at the end of June 2023, mobilized more than 60 officers to carry out a unified arrest and netting operation. After 72 hours of continuous work, the police successfully captured Jiang and other main suspects. On July 1, the arrest team also captured Zhong, the general distributor of the e-cigarette brand in Sichuan.

In this operation, a total of 9 suspects were arrested, 3 e-cigarette retail stores were discovered, 1 e-cigarette manufacturing company was destroyed, and contraband worth over 5 million RMB was confiscated. Currently, the main evidence in the case has been collected, and 8 suspects have been charged and prosecuted.