Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, August 03, 2003
China Reports Progress in Anti-smuggling Campaign
Chinese customs handled 55,755 smuggling cases from 1998 to 2002, with the value estimated at 43.04 billion yuan (5.19 billion US dollars), sources from the General Administration of Customs said Sunday.
Chinese customs handled 55,755 smuggling cases from 1998 to 2002, with the value estimated at 43.04 billion yuan (5.19 billion US dollars), sources from the General Administration of Customs said Sunday.
Other law enforcement departments including public security bureaus and administrations for industry and commerce also dealt with some 41,000 smuggling cases involving a total value of 8.02 billion yuan (9.7 million US dollars) since a nationwide anti-smuggling campaign was launched in July 1998.
The crackdown on smuggling has effectively curbed illegal tradeand resulted in a sharp growth of the trade business, the sources said.
The country has been witnessed an average annual growth of 17.7percent in imports and exports since 1998, and more than 1 trillion yuan (120 billion US dollars) worth of customs tariffs has been put into the state coffers.
The customs' anti-smuggling police force has detained 14,955 smuggling suspects since it was founded in 1999, with 7,791 of them transferred to judicial departments.
In the last five years, procuratorates at all levels have litigated 7,030 smuggling suspects, while courts at various levelshave dealt with 3,324 smuggling cases, with 4,690 convicted smugglers punished according to law.