Customs body reveals cases to deter smuggling

The General Administration of Customs recently gave details of smuggling attempts to remind the public not to carry restricted items or conceal items in an attempt to evade customs supervision.

According to a post on the WeChat account of the authority on June 12, customs officers in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, discovered suspicious images in an X-ray scan of a package declared as a "jacket". Upon inspection, they found a package sealed in a vacuum bag containing green crushed plant products with a strong and pungent odor.

Subsequent testing revealed that the plant products were cannabis with a total weight of 483.3 grams. The case has been transferred to the customs anti-smuggling department for further action.

The customs body noted that cannabis is a controlled narcotic drug in China. Smuggling, trafficking, transporting, or manufacturing drugs, regardless of the quantity involved, shall be held criminally responsible according to the country's Criminal Law.

In another case, customs officers in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, inspected an inbound express shipment declared as "full-fat milk powder" and found four cans of milk powder with traces of resealing at the openings.

Upon further inspection, the officers found one coin hidden in each can of milk powder, with a total weight of 136 grams. The coins were identified by the National Gemstone Inspection Center as 22K gold (with a gold content of 91.6 percent).

The authority reminded the public that goods entering or exiting the country should be truthfully declared to customs. Transporting, carrying, or mailing items that should be subject to customs duties by concealing, disguising, withholding, or misrepresenting information to evade customs supervision constitutes smuggling.