Seven men were caught while smuggling electronic products
through a 20-meter-long tunnel from Hong Kong into neighboring
Shenzhen.
The men had to crawl through a tunnel just 67 cm wide before
wading through a sewage pipe to get the goods across the
border.
It is the first time police have uncovered a tunnel-smuggling
case in the southern city, said Song Min, deputy director of the
anti-smuggling division of Shenzhen Customs, in a press conference
yesterday.
After a month-long investigation, the anti-smuggling force took
action on August 25, capturing a gang leader, a truck driver, and
five men working in the tunnel.
About 900 mobile phones and 120,000 electronic chips, with a
street value of 1.6 million yuan (US$200,000), were seized in the
raid. Another matter implicating the men relates to 270,000 yuan
(US$33,750) in unpaid taxes, Song said.
Another leading suspect is still at large. Two Hong Kong
residents, including the owner of the goods and a man who delivered
them, are also being sought.
"We have reported the case to the Hong Kong customs and police.
We think the Hong Kong suspects will be punished," Song said.
According to the customs, the gang rented a 15 square-meter
single-room apartment last month in Shatoujiao, only a few meters
away from the border.
Shenzhen and Hong Kong are divided by a river, but they meet in
Shatoujiao.
The smugglers dug straight down for about one meter, and then
tunneled toward the Hong Kong side, linking up with a sewage pipe
that runs across the border.
A truck parked just outside the Shenzhen apartment received the
smuggled products through a side door. One standard smuggling run
would take no longer than three minutes.
"The suspects confessed that they spent nearly 20 days digging
the tunnel and used it three times," Song told reporters.
He estimated the gang could have smuggled about 500 to 600
million yuan (US$62.5-75 million) worth of products a year through
the tunnel had they not been discovered.
(China Daily September 14, 2006)