Customs investigators in east China's Fujian Province have recently discovered a large number of secret warehouses and caches in a seaside village, leading to the exposure of a well hidden smuggling gang.
After three months of investigations, officers with the Xiamen Customs on three occasions in February raided five luxury houses in Shati Village, near Shishi city.
These houses belong to alleged smuggling kingpin Cai Wanhe, his brothers Cai Rongli and Cai Wanhua, and his cousins Gong Tianzhen and Gong Huobo.
In the basements of the houses, the officers found 16 concrete warehouses and seven large iron cupboards, packed with 2,883 boxes of Chinese and foreign branded cigarettes worth of over 15 million Yuan, the officers said.
The entrances to these underground warehouses and cupboards were all cleverly hidden beneath sofas, cupboards and stone flooring.
The chief suspect, Cai Wanhe, is a man of 51 with no fixed job. The locals describe him as a man generous to charitable causes.
But customs officers said he is one of the biggest cigarette smuggling barons on the Fujian coast. Cai's gang has its own vessels and vehicles and arranges all the procurement, transportation and distribution within the gang.
The case is still under investigation.
( March 29, 2002)
