Anti-smuggling customs police have reported success in catching suspected smugglers on the lam, nabbing 156 people in less than 20 days, sources with the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Monday.
Over 100 of the suspects were allegedly involved in smuggling of cars and steel plates, and have been detained by customs police, said Director of the GAC Smuggling Cases Investigation Bureau Lu Zhiqiang.
The ongoing crackdown on smugglers is necessary for maintaining regular order of imports and exports as well as ensuring the social and economic security, Lu said.
According to GAC officials, Chinese customs revenue this year is expected to exceed last year's total of 224.2 billion yuan (about 27 billion U.S. dollars).
GAC figures show that 10,091 smuggling cases were investigated in the first ten months of 2001, up 6.03 percent from the same period of last year, and 4.74 billion yuan (about 573.16 million U.S. dollars) was involved, down 32.2 percent.
(People's Daily December 4, 2001)
