GUANGZHOU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Gongbei customs in south China's Guangdong Province said it busted 12 smuggling gangs, captured 30 suspects and seized food and beverages worth 500 million yuan (about 72 million U.S. dollars).
Another 3.3 million yuan involved in the case was also frozen, the customs said.
The smugglers set up an office near Gongbei Port in Zhuhai in January 2017. They hired individuals to bring in small amounts of food and drinks illegally through the port before delivering them to buyers across China.
In addition, they printed false invoices with artificially low prices to smuggle food and beverages via other ports in the province at lower tax rates.
After a thorough investigation, over 300 police officers were dispatched to carry out operations in the cities of Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Quanzhou on Nov. 18, detaining more than 3,000 cases of food and drinks.
