Timber smuggling gangs busted in China's Guangdong

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese customs recently launched a special operation against timber smuggling and busted seven timber smuggling gangs, customs of Huangpu District, south China's Guangdong Province, said Monday.

In December 2020, customs authorities found that the declared price of some imported timber in the customs was abnormal and under suspicion of smuggling. The police then carried out an investigation and discovered several timber-smuggling criminal gangs. They also busted the main smugglers and the smuggling chain.

Investigations found that these gangs were smuggling about 100,000 cubic meters of timber, with a value of about 520 million yuan (about 81.5 million U.S. dollars).

Under the guidance of the anti-smuggling bureau of the General Administration of Customs and with the support of other customs departments and local police, seven smuggling gangs were destroyed on November 18 in Dongguan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Zhangjiagang. The bureau arrested 17 suspects and seized a batch of timber involved in the case.

Further investigation is underway.