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1,500 Boxes of Smuggled Cigarettes Confiscated
Anti-smuggling officers with Haikou Customs of south China's Hainan Province recently confiscated 1,500 boxes of smuggled foreign cigarettes from a fishing boat.
The smuggled cigarettes are estimated to be worth more than three million yuan. It is the largest cigarette smuggling case the customs has ever handled this year.
On December 21, late at night, when the anti-smuggling officers patrolled the sea waters of Beibu Gulf in a ship, they found the suspicious fishing boat near Weizhou Isle and demanded an inspection on the boat. The fishing boat sped up, attempting to run away.
Anti-smuggling officers made a forced landing on the fishing boat after their ship caught up with the boat and overpowered the eight crew members on board.
"Investigations found that the wooden fishing boat was disguised (its original plate being "Leizhou 03301") as another boat with plate "Leizhou 08188" for the smuggling.
The eight crew members who are suspected of smuggling cigarettes have been detained by the Haikou Customs, said customs sources.
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