Smugglers Have Run into Snags in China 　　 A national conference on carrying out the fight to prevent and counter smugglers from smuggling goods from abroad was called last July in China. Though it took the Customs merely a year's time since last July the Chinese Customs have been rewarded with heartening results in hunting down and seizing smugglers in China. By statistics from last July to June this year, there are as many as 10,066 serious smuggling cases, with a total worth of 2.63 billion yuan, that have been ferreted out. With these there has been brought about accordingly a 117 per cent growth, hence an all time high of as many as 78.36 billion yuan created in the first six months of this year, in the country's customs and import duty over the same preceding period. 　　 Along with positive economic results great percussion has been produced in politics thanks to the struggle carried out to fight smuggling in China. Due to various measures adopted things have come to be put in order in Chinese economy, thereby a fine orderly economic environment and a rising situation of competition in contributing to economic advances and operations by various trades and enterprises throughout China. As a result of the fight to prevent and counter smugglers from running goods from abroad there is already a general growth in income by various law-abiding enterprises going in for petrochemical, photosensitive material, auto and the like manufacturing productive lines in China. Take petrochemical production for example, a total of 3.69 billion yuan had accrued to the producers in the first quarter of this year over a loss of 3 billion in the same period of last year. 　　 On top of those said above, a large number of smugglers have been tracked down and seized, including 492 who have been cooped up and investigated, 954 arrested, and 169 prosecuted by procuratorial departments in the first six months of this year. To mark the deepening and crowning success of the fight to prevent and counter smugglers from running goods from abroad, a handful of public "borers" ganging up with smugglers have been detected and ousted from law-enforcing departments in China. But this does not mean the end of the tough struggle by the Chinese Customs. New fights are still needed to crush any smuggling attempt by all possible owlers from smuggling goods into the country from abroad. HomeNews 1999-07-15 Page1 Full Story in Chinese