On April 4, 2001, the officials in the Huanggang Checkpoint in Shenzhen discovered an AK-47 submachine gun and a military pistol in a cart of postal express mails from Hong Kong. The driver of the cart was arrested and confessed to smuggling weapons through cargo carts.

A special team set up by the local anti-smuggling authorities discovered out the sources of the weapons.

Five days later, the local police seized Guangzhou resident Liu and his mother, Bao.

They were found to have illegally smuggled three AK-47s, pistols and other firearms between 2000 and last year. The smuggled weapons were then sold in cities such as Nanning, Xiamen, Guilin and Hangzhou.

All the smuggled weapons have been recovered by local police authorities.

The successful crackdown was the first by the custom authorities since the sub bureau on anti-smuggling was set up three years ago.

Shenzhen Customs also smashed the "Global Trading Corporation." Based in Huidong County of Guangdong Province, the firm was charged with smuggling goods worthy of 31.89 million yuan (US$3.8 million) in 1999, evading tariffs valued at 18.31 million yuan (US$2.2 million).

The case caught the attention of top authorities.

The heads of the firm, Li Jintian and Zhen Yongqiu, were seized in February and May respectively, and were sentenced to life imprisonment by Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in October.

(China Daily January 9, 2002)