According to China’s relevant laws, all imported heated not burn cartridges without a legal source to prove their import are not allowed to be sold in the country.
Recently, Jiangsu Yangzhou sentenced a case of illegal sale of heat not burn cartridges, and several defendants were sentenced.
The cause of this case started with Mr. Liu’s e-cigarette purchase online in Jiangsu.
Mr. Liu found an e-cigarette online store under the introduction of a friend, but can this heat not burn kit really help him quit smoking successfully? After looking at the introduction of the cigarette in the shop, he dispelled his concerns.
In the end, Mr. Liu found a seller specializing in HNB cartridges through a mobile phone software and bought two cartridges in an online shop called “Old Iron”. After the package arrived, Mr. Liu opened the box and inserted it into the device, but after taking two breaths, he felt something was wrong.
Mr. Liu thought he had bought fakes, so he went to the police station and called the police. (VAPE HK kind reminding, vape sellers online in China, please don’t sell fake products.)
Police immediately launched an investigation into the seller “Old Iron”.
Obviously, the seller’s cartridges were smuggled into the country illegally. The police quickly identified the true identity of “Old Iron” as Zhang, a Xiamen native in Fujian. After the investigation, the police found that one of the ten on-line surnames, Chen, had extremely frequent capital exchanges with the “Old Iron”. After the situation was basically figured out, the police soldiers went to Xiamen and Shenzhen in two ways to apprehend the two criminal suspects.
At the time the police entered the suspect’s home and found that his studio was located in his home. There were a large number of computers, cartridges, and courier packages at home.
In this operation, the police successfully arrested 10 criminal suspects such as Zhang and Chen. However, after the police’s analysis of the physical evidence on the scene, the seller’s “Old iron” is correlated with a few suspects who have been not arrested. He also has a closer “partner”, so who is this “big boss”?
Through the analysis of the ledger and data obtained during the arrest, the police followed the lead and clarified the true identities of these online. These bosses were distributed throughout the country, and large-scale arrest operation was launched.
Within two months, the police have seized 12 related suspects, but the police encountered problems when they arrested the boss, Zheng.
A few days before the police arrived in Xinjiang, his partner, his cousin, had been captured by the Zhejiang police.
Zheng is 35 years old and is from Fujian. His cousin’s arrest made him a frightened bird. When the police found Zheng’s temporary residence, he was already gone. After many setbacks, the police found Zheng’s brother and understood his whereabouts. After repeated communication with Zheng’s elder brother, he finally promised to help the police contact Zheng for persuasion.
Zheng found that he had no choice but to surrender to the police.
After Zheng arrived, he confessed his illegal sales of Marlboro heat not burn cartridges to the police.
He has been active in the Horgos port in Xinjiang for a long time, so he used the camel team to smuggle cartridges from abroad. At the same time, he also attracted a courier to join the group to send and distribute goods for him. He has also been arrested.
Up to now, the police have fought in more than 50 cities in 18 provinces and municipalities, arrested a total of 32 criminal suspects, and chased 2 people online, successfully cutting off this black interest chain.
In the current sales network, the total number of dealers involved has reached more than 200, and 8 of them have a cash flow of more than 10 million, and the total smuggle amount involved is 280 million.
The police also reminded that the sale of such heat not burn electronic cigarettes has been suspected of illegality, and merchants should operate in compliance with the law. In addition, the electronic cigarette’s cartridge contains cut tobacco, which not only fails to quit smoking, but also causes health hazards.
Recently, the Dujiang District People’s Court of Yangzhou City issued a first-instance judgment in this case. The defendants Zhang, Wang, Jiang, Lin, Gao and others were sentenced to three year to six months term of imprisonment and fines for suspected illegal business operations.
