Xinkuai Daily - Report by journalist Haisheng Chen and correspondent Yanggongxuan: Commonplace, inexpensive tobacco shreds, with a change of outer packaging, transform into high-end cigarettes such as "Hongshuangxi", "Dahongying", and "Yunyan". Such counterfeit cigarettes have been distributed to multiple counties and cities across the province in alarming quantities. Recently, the Yangjiang Public Security Bureau announced that after nearly a year of meticulous investigation, the local police successfully dismantled a group producing and selling fake cigarettes, destroyed two counterfeit cigarette manufacturing dens, arrested nine criminal suspects, seized a large number of fake production materials and case-related tools, with the case value exceeding 3 million yuan.
Last year at the beginning of the year, the Economic Investigation Detachment of the Yangjiang Municipal Public Security Bureau received reports from the public claiming that someone was setting up points in the mountain ravines of Gangmei, Guigang, and Mashui in Yangchun to manufacture counterfeit cigarettes. The local police immediately established a special task force. Investigations revealed that after moving their operation points to Mashui and Guigang, the two dens operated 24 hours a day, employing around 2-3 people per shift. According to the case-handling police officers, criminals spend approximately 200,000 yuan on machines for making counterfeit cigarettes, and if they operate 24 hours a day, they can start making profits within about 15 days.
According to introductions, all raw materials required by the two counterfeit production sites were transported from Guangzhou. In Yangchun, they would season the ingredients and produce counterfeit cigarette sticks, then transport these sticks back to Guangzhou for packaging before distributing them to various locations. To achieve convincing fakes, this crime syndicate hired highly paid cigarette-making technical personnel to assist them with seasoning and guiding production. Suspect Jian Qin was originally a technical worker at a cigarette factory in Hubei. After being laid off, he was introduced to help the group with seasoning and technical guidance, receiving full accommodation and meals along with over 2000 yuan in compensation each time.
Currently, nine criminal suspects including Xipin Zhang have been criminally detained, and the case is under further review.