A total of 220,000 cartons of 53 million counterfeited cigarettes, with a price value of 25 million yuan (about US$3.33 million), were destroyed Wednesday in Beijing.

The public destruction was organized by the tobacco monopoly bureau of Fengtai District, in the southern suburbs of the Chinese capital.

The counterfeited cigarettes were seized in 94 cases by the bureau from March to October this year, said the bureau director Liu Genpu, adding that 22 suspects involving in the cases were detained.

The brands of the counterfeited cigarettes include "555", "Hongtashan", "Yuxi", and "Zhonghua". China is increasing its efforts to stub out production and sale of fake cigarettes to secure tax income and protect the consumers' interests, according to the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA).

Statistics from the STMA show that in the first half of this year, the country's law enforcement agencies seized 4.12 billion counterfeit brand cigarettes.

From January to June, China's tobacco industry registered more than 200 billion yuan in pre-tax profits, up 26 percent on a year earlier, the statistics show.

(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2007)