On the morning of September 23, under the command of the GACC, the Guangdong Sub-Administration coordinated Anti-smuggling Bereaus of Huangpu, Guangzhou and Kunming Customs to crack smuggling activities by means of land-way transit and customs bypassing. Also with the help of Dalian, Shenyang, Harbin, Nanchang, Changsha, Shenzhen, Shantou, Jiangmen and Chengdu Customs, totally 673 officers were dispatched and finally seized 70 suspects involved in 7 transit smuggling gangs in Guangdong and Yunnan provinces.

Huangpu Customs seized a truck (filled with stored program control(SPC) exchanges and second-hand

motorcycles) transporting smuggled goods across China- Myanmar border from Yunnanprovince.

A vintage car of 1960s seized by Huangpu Customs

At 4 a.m. of September 23, 673 officers, divided into 117 action groups, acted together to arrest smuggling suspects simultaneously in Kunming, Ruili, Mangshi, Longchuan, Baoshan, Lincang, Jinghong and Yuxi cities in Yunnan province, in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shantou, Shanwei, Zhaoqing, Maoming, Dongguan and Jiangmen cities in Guangdong province and in Dandong city in Liaoning province.

Till 8 a.m. of September 23, the officers cracked 7 smuggling gangs, seizing 70 suspects and detaining smuggled computer parts, rice, and sugar as well as smuggling evidences.

Smuggled-in Red Bull beverage seized by anti-smuggling officers

The smuggled-in rice was seized by the officers in a border warehouse and

would be sold to inland areas with changed package.

The GACC organized Guangdong Sub-Administration and Huangpu, Guangzhou, Kunming Customs to make earlier-stage operation on the case, which was investigated specifically by Huangpu and Guangzhou Customs Anti-Smuggling Bereaus.

Through initial investigation, the smuggling gangs, by means of Hong Kong - Hangpu wharf - Yunnan border transit, smuggled goods inward across China-Myanmar border without passing Customs checkpoints. The smuggled goods included liquid-crystal boards, laptop computers, cars, motorcycles and parts, leather products, agricultural products like rice and sugar, totally worth more than 1.2 billion yuan.

Suspects were being escorted to the plane.

 Suspects were escorted to Guangzhou airport.

 For the first time China Customs escorted criminal suspects onto the chartered flight.

The smuggling gangs covered wide regions with hidden tricks and complicated connections. With the help of China Civil Aviation Administration, it was the first time to use chartered flight to escort suspects from Yunnan to Guangzhou.

At 0:38 a.m. of September 24, the chartered flight arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, with 28 suspects from Yunnan to Guangzhou for further investigation.

The anti-smuggling operation, as a heavy blow on the full chain of purchase, transport, warehousing and sale of smuggled goods by cross-border land-way transit, effectively curbed current smuggling momentum and made key commodity markets in order, giving full play to “Gateway Sword 2016” campaign.