Minister Ni Yuefeng directs the 5th round of the “Blue Sky 2018” campaign against illicit imported waste.

At the site of Anti-Smuggling Command Center of GACC

On the early morning of December 19, under the command of Minister Ni Yuefeng, the GACC launched the 5th round of the “Blue Sky 2018” campaign to combat the smuggling of illicit imported waste. Through the special action, Guangdong Sub-Administration and participating 13 Customs Districts (in 11 provinces/municipalities) totally busted 38 smuggling syndicates, captured 129 criminal suspects, and seized 91,600 tons of illicit imported waste including waste plastics, waste slag and waste ferrosilicon; meanwhile, they collected large amounts of smuggling evidence and froze relevant illegal funds.
 
Along with continuous special actions against solid-waste smuggling, China Customs is also engaged in international law-enforcement cooperation (e.g. the “Operation Demeter IV”) and, by taking advantage of customs-quarantine integration, has intensified pre-shipment inspection and entry inspection over solid waste. Since this year, the GACC has conducted 5 rounds of “Blue Sky 2018” anti-smuggling actions in an intensive, clustered and full-chain manner, totally filing 479 criminal cases, capturing 718 criminal suspects, dismantling 202 smuggling syndicates, and seizing over 1.55 million tons of illicit waste plastics, slag and metals, with effective crackdown on such smuggling momentum.

In the next stage, China Customs will continue the crackdown on criminal smuggling of illicit imported waste by deepening law-enforcement cooperation with foreign countries/regions as well as with domestic Public Security, Environmental Protection, Market Regulation and other administrations, so as to safeguard domestic eco-environment and human health.