1,119 Smuggling Cases Dealt With in ShanghaiCustoms officers across Shanghai, China's leading industrial and commercial center, handled 1,119 cases of smuggling and related violations last year.Sources from the Shanghai Municipal Customhouse said these cases involved a combined value of 458 million yuan (about US$55.18 million). Seized smuggling commodities mainly include chemical raw materials, automobile components, cultural relics, rare animal products, numerically-controlled machine tools, cigarettes, narcotics, computers and components and mobile telecommunications equipment. According to the sources, 90 investigations took place involving smuggling, in which smugglers were suspected of evading 70 million yuan (about US$8.4 million) of taxes. Customs officers also detained 62 smuggling suspects, 37 of whom were convicted and were sentenced to varied terms of imprisonment, said the sources. Different outlets of entry and exit in Shanghai handled US$110 billion worth of imports and exports, and levied some 48.7 billion yuan (about US$5.87 billion) in tariffs last year, both representing new records and showing sharp rises from 1999. |
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