Haixi Morning News reporter Bai Ruoxue correspondent Zhang Ying
Xiamen Customs successfully cracked a major case of smuggling high-end watches by "water tourists". Photo courtesy of the Customs
Wechat has become an important way for people to communicate, but some criminals have turned their heads and used WeChat to sell smuggled high-end watches. Recently, Xiamen Customs successfully cracked a major case of smuggling high-end watches by "water customers", with a value of up to 200 million yuan.
At 7 o'clock on January 18, Xiamen Customs carried out simultaneous arrests and arrests in Xiamen, Quanzhou, Longyan, Zhangzhou, and other places in Fujian Province, and successfully destroyed 4 high-end watch smuggling gangs and arrested 19 criminal suspects , more than 8.5 million yuan in cash was seized, 3.15 million yuan of funds involved in the case were frozen, and 141 high-end watches such as Richard Mille and Patek Philippe suspected of smuggling were seized on the spot.
According to the introduction, the investigators discovered during the early investigation that Guo and others opened a store in the prosperous area of Xiamen , specializing in the sale of high-end watches and other luxury goods, and often posted pictures of various watches on WeChat Moments and short video platforms , Videos, some of which are new watches worth millions of dollars, but there is no record of import declarations, and they are likely to be smuggled into the country through illegal channels.
Through continuous investigation, Xiamen Customs has gradually figured out the modus operandi of the smuggling gang: "buyers" buy high-end watches through special counters or second-hand channels in Thailand, the Philippines, and other countries, and then transport the watches to Hong Kong or Macau. Smuggled into the country by means of license plates from Guangdong and Hong Kong.
According to reports, in order to evade capital monitoring, smugglers pay in cash or virtual currency such as "TEDA" currency when delivering overseas; Sales gangs registered companies and operated seemingly regular watch shops, and sold smuggled high-end watches mixed with second-hand high-end watches purchased in China, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to verify and cover their smuggling activities. After the
watch entered the country, the gang posted advertisements in the circle of friends or a fixed "WeChat group" to conduct online negotiations. The gang can even "customize one-to-one", buy watches of designated brands or styles overseas according to customer requirements, and then smuggle them into the country.
At present, the case is under further investigation.
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