Seize more than 7 tons Huangpu Customs cracked a serious ivory smuggling case.
CCTV News:The General Administration of Customs announced today (15th) ten typical cases of cracking down on the smuggling of endangered species such as ivory and their products in recent years. Among them, a particularly large ivory smuggling case cracked by Huangpu Customs in March 2019 was the largest ivory smuggling case independently investigated and handled by China Customs in recent years, and 2,748 pieces of ivory were seized, totaling 7.48 tons.
On March 30 this year, under the unified command of the General Administration of Customs, customs anti-smuggling personnel busted a criminal gang engaged in smuggling, processing and selling in a freight channel in one fell swoop, and seized 2,748 pieces of ivory suspected of smuggling, weighing 7.48 tons, and 20 suspects were arrested.
The ivory suspected of smuggling was hidden in an abandoned factory in Gaogou Town, Wuwei County, Anhui Province. At the scene, the reporter saw that there were many rectangular wooden boxes piled up in the empty factory. After counting, there were 62 wooden boxes, all of which were ivory.
Qiu Wei, Director of the Investigation Department of Huangpu Customs Anti-smuggling Bureau:The length is about 2 m 2, and the height and width are all 30 cm. Then, after opening the box, there are all ivory in it, both long and short. There are about 30 ivory in one, including complete ivory, root and cusp.
In the corner of another workshop connected with the workshop where ivory is hidden, there are many old wooden boards piled up, which are very similar to those used in smuggling ivory boxes in terms of material and size.
Qiu Wei:After the ivory arrived here, the smugglers dismantled the wooden box and moved it away. The remaining boards, you see, are basically the same as those we found before. Four boards were nailed into a wooden box. Then there are plastic bags containing ivory, which shows that the amount of ivory they smuggled is very large and it is not once, but should be many times.
There are two containers outside the factory building, one of which contains a wooden board used as a cover when criminal gangs smuggle ivory.
Qiu Wei:These wooden boards are placed at the door of the container, and then the wooden boxes where he put ivory are placed behind these wooden boards, and then these things are mainly used to cover those wooden boxes.
Remote towns find strangers speaking argot to attract attention.
This case is the biggest ivory smuggling case seized by Chinese customs in recent years. So, who is smuggling these ivory? How did ivory travel across the ocean to a remote town?
According to the customs anti-smuggling personnel handling the case, the clue of the case originated from an ivory smuggling case investigated by the anti-smuggling bureau of Huangpu Customs in 2013. The case seized 4.46 tons of smuggled ivory, while the main suspects, Fujian-born Chen Mou Cheng, Chen Mou Guang and Chen Mou Zong, have been at large.
Qiu Wei:After the incident, we took measures to chase Chen and his son on the Internet. After a long-term persistent pursuit of them, we found that they had a very abnormal behavior after the incident, that is, he built a new house and bought a new car in his hometown of Putian, Fujian.
Customs anti-smuggling personnel found that after the incident, Chen and his son went to a country in Southeast Asia to hide. During their escape, they not only did not converge, but also smuggled ivory from Africa to China many times.
Qiu Wei:In November, 2018, Chen Mou Zong of Chen’s father and son fled back to China by using a false identity abroad, and then we captured him in one fell swoop. After he was captured, we conducted a series of analysis on Chen Mou Zong’s foreign identity, and found that his life track was actually relatively simple, but he often appeared in a place in Wuwei County, Anhui Province.
The suspect appeared in inaction many times, which attracted the attention of the task force, and they quickly turned their attention to inaction. However, the customs anti-smuggling personnel did not find any signs related to the case in inaction, and the investigation was once in trouble.
Qiu Wei:In March this year, when we visited again, we found a group of foreigners with Fujian accent in the local area, and in their words, we found that they talked about sensitive words about yellow wine, which is a argot of ivory.
The truth of the case of smuggling ivory in a centralized network came to light
In order to escape the blow, smugglers generally use argot when communicating with sensitive objects such as teeth. For example, they call ivory yellow wine, queen and so on. The customs anti-smuggling personnel were very excited when they heard the Fujian people talking about yellow wine, and immediately investigated and prosecuted the suspects.
Qiu Wei:We found that they often worked in a waste factory in Wuwei County at night, but because of the limited means, we didn’t know what they were doing, but on the afternoon of the 29th, when we conducted an outside investigation on the waste factory again, we found a container in this factory.
The outer wall of the waste factory is close to the Yangtze River levee, and the customs anti-smuggling personnel can see the containers in the yard through the glass of the factory building. There are many cable factories in Gaogou Town, Wuwei County. However, it is the first time that customs anti-smuggling personnel found containers in the investigation.
Qiu Wei:So this discovery is a very important discovery. After research, we immediately decided to conduct a raid on the abandoned warehouse in the early morning of March 30th. Then, at the scene, we found that there were 62 boxes of this wooden box with ivory in it, and at the scene, we arrested six Fujian smugglers who came to pick up the goods.
Zhang, the owner of the waste factory, met ivory smuggling gangs in Africa before doing mining business. In February 2018, smuggling gangs smuggled the ivory from Africa into Yantai, and then transported it to Wuwei along the Yangtze River and hid it in Zhang’s waste factory.
Qiu Wei:They belong to a relatively large ivory smuggling gang. They have not only this batch of goods, but also surplus goods and inventory before. Because the previous goods have not been processed after the arrival of this goods, his goods have not been moved.
In the early morning of March 30, the "1 17" task force of Huangpu Customs, with the cooperation of the anti-smuggling bureaus of Hefei, Nanjing, Beijing, Fuzhou and Qingdao Customs and local public security organs, dispatched 238 police officers and divided them into eight action groups to carry out centralized network collection operations, and arrested 20 suspects including Cai and Lin.
It has been initially found out that criminal groups headed by Chen’s three sons have bought a large amount of ivory in countries such as Africa and Nigeria, and smuggled it into the country through non-customs smuggling and false reporting of freight channels. The 7.48 tons of ivory seized this time was smuggled into the country by falsely reporting it as timber through the freight channel, and was hidden in a waste factory somewhere, waiting for an opportunity to sell it in China for profit.
Sun Zhijie, Director of Anti-smuggling Bureau of General Administration of Customs:This case is the largest number of ivory seized by the anti-smuggling department of the customs in recent years. The whole chain destroyed an international criminal group that had been smuggling ivory for a long time, and both people were caught. At present, the case is under further investigation.
Customs reminder: Endangered species are not allowed to enter or leave the country illegally.
In the practice of customs enforcement, the common wild animal and plant species are ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, dried seahorse, pangolin scales, agarwood, etc. Previously, a case of bringing tortoise shell into the country was found at Gongbei Port. The passenger returned from Thailand and brought five tortoise shells as souvenirs, because the passenger could not provide any import and export certificates.
The full name of the Permit for Import referred to by the Customs is the Permit for Import and Export of Wild Animals and Plants, which is issued by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Endangered Species Import and Export Administration Office. It is mainly aimed at those who need it for public welfare purposes such as scientific research, exhibitions, medical care and education, and is generally not issued by individuals when entering or leaving the country. Those who do not bring the certificate to import or export endangered goods will not be released by the customs.
According to the second paragraph of Article 151 of the Criminal Law and Article 9 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases of Smuggling:
Whoever smuggles precious animal products for less than 200,000 yuan shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years and fined;
Whoever smuggles precious animal products in an amount of more than 200,000 yuan but less than 1 million yuan shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years and fined;
Whoever smuggles precious animal products for more than 1 million yuan shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment, and his property shall also be confiscated.
Sun Zhijie, Director of Anti-smuggling Bureau of General Administration of Customs:According to the relevant regulations, the value of an ivory is 250,000 yuan. If it is uncertain whether it belongs to an ivory, the unit price is 41,667 yuan/kg according to its weight.
The Customs reminds that some people will buy tourist souvenirs when they leave the country. When they are not sure whether the goods are endangered, they must not carry them at will, otherwise they may face legal sanctions. For example, the cheaper nautilus shells and their products in foreign markets cost only tens to hundreds of yuan, while according to relevant regulations, the case accounting price is 150,000 yuan each, far higher than the starting point, and passengers will face criminal punishment for carrying them.
Wang Wei, Director of Supervision Department of General Administration of Customs:First, whoever transports, carries or mails ivory and its products into or out of the country in violation of laws, regulations and relevant regulations shall be investigated for criminal or administrative responsibility according to law; Second, anyone who evades customs supervision, transports, carries or mails ivory and its products into or out of the country shall be treated as smuggling; Third, those who constitute a crime shall be transferred to judicial organs for criminal responsibility.
In addition, the smuggling of ivory and its products, which are not investigated for criminal responsibility according to law, will be fined except for the confiscation of ivory and its products; Those who have been punished by administrative punishment for similar acts again will be punished within the scope of punishment.
At the same time, for the illegal activities of smuggling ivory and its products, in addition to criminal and administrative penalties, the punishment results will be publicized according to regulations, and relevant information will be exchanged to the national credit information sharing platform, which will increase the illegal costs of the parties, strengthen comprehensive management, and form a joint force of law enforcement. (CCTV reporter Sun Shuwen Ma Weihua)