Small-scale smuggling is transported by smuggling or moving ants and has nothing to do with customs, but large-scale smuggling has nothing to do with customs. The sun rises from the west.
It is certain that someone went into the water at the customs, but I don’t know who this person is. Of course, it may not be one person or a group. In short, the possibility of a trap is very high.
"Can you confirm those people colluded with the Lida Trading Group to carry out large-scale cigarette smuggling?" Henry from the Taxation Department asked.
As a person in the tax department, Henry hated people who evaded taxes the most, because it was related to the performance of the tax department and his own reputation.
"I don’t know the specific people, but there is a problem with Carina Chung. We investigated her expenses and found that her income and consumption were seriously inconsistent. Sometimes her consumption in a month was more than ten times her income, and this was our shortcoming. Spend more secretly.
Han Zhibang distributed the information in his hand to everyone and said, "This is the information of Lida Trading Group, and the person in charge, Chen Chaoqun, is very suspicious.
It's a pity that after following for a long time, we still haven't found out who is behind the scenes. We need the support of the police force. "
When it comes to police support, everyone focuses on Lei Weidong.
So after some discussion.
It was decided to conduct an operation against tobacco smuggling in Xiangjiang, led by the Police Department and the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The person in charge of the specific operation was Lei Weidong, the head of the Operation Department.
"Azhen, inform everyone of the meeting and call Yazi over."
Lei Weidong, who received the task, naturally could not act alone, so he summoned all his men. In addition to his confidants Li Ying and others, other departments, such as the Commercial Crime Investigation Section, Criminal Intelligence Section, Organized Crime and Three People from the Hehui Investigation Section also called over.
Because investigating smuggling cases is different from criminal cases, there are too many departments involved, and coordination between various departments is required.
"The director gave me a task, asking our police force to raid the tobacco market in Xiangjiang and crack down on smuggled cigarettes. Now everyone is taking out the intelligence on tobacco smuggling and summarizing it to see where to start to achieve quick results.
Starting from the Organizational Crime and Triad Investigation Bureau in charge of the society, I heard that the society is deeply involved in tobacco smuggling. Do you have any measures to target it? "
"The Director is right. Almost all societies in Hong Kong are involved in tobacco smuggling." Chief Superintendent Huang Sir of the Organized Crime and Triad Investigation Division looked at his deputy Ma Jun and said:
Lei Weidong, this bastard, placed a large number of his cronies as soon as he arrived at the police station.
In addition to letting Jian Huizhen be in charge of the administration of the Operations Division, he also let Ya Zi, his wife whom everyone knows, control the Criminal Intelligence Division. His own Organized Crime and Triad Investigation Division also arranged a deputy. Obviously, this is The person who takes his place.
"Is there any way to suppress it?" Lei Weidong asked.
"One of the ways to suppress it is to call the leaders of the society to the police station and raid them every three days. Cigarettes are no better than washing powder. They need to be sold outside.
If there are more sweeps, there will naturally be fewer fake cigarettes on the streets, but that’s it. "The Chief Superintendent of the Organized Crime and Triad Investigation Division said with some embarrassment.
"Just what?"
“For the club bosses, cigarettes are not as profitable as washing powder, but for the bottom, smuggling cigarettes is the basis for many people’s survival.
There are at least a thousand stalls on the street that rely on smuggled cigarettes to make a living. If you include transportation, warehousing, and distribution to street cigarette sellers and other intermediate links, those who rely on smuggled cigarettes for a living in Xiangjiang will have to go to jail. Ten thousand.
Cracking down on smuggled cigarettes means destroying their jobs. Unless we can give them jobs, it will be troublesome if we cause trouble. "
"Sir Huang means that although the government has lost billions or even tens of billions in tax revenue, this money supports many lower-class citizens. If we crack down on smuggling cigarettes, it will be equivalent to destroying their jobs."
Huang Sir's words reminded Lei Weidong of the news about the smuggling of milk powder in Xiangjiang in his previous life, which made many people know the term parallel importer.
The so-called parallel cargo refers to taking advantage of the different exchange rates between RMB and Hong Kong dollars, as well as the different prices between the Mainland and Hong Kong. A large number of people in Hong Kong and the Mainland use the ant moving method to transport goods between Hong Kong and the Mainland by carrying small quantities and entering and exiting multiple times. people.
The amount of money earned varies depending on the goods. Generally speaking, parallel traders can earn about HK$100 for each shipment. This is mainly because the goods shipped each time are not many and do not need to pay customs duties.
100 yuan is not much for rich people, it is not enough to pay for cigarettes, but for many poor people it is several days of living expenses.
There are many parallel traders in Hong Kong. There are more than 20,000 parallel traders active at various ports in Hong Kong and Shenzhen every day. Among them are freelancers, truck drivers, independent tourists, cross-border students, retired people and housewives. .
There are also cargo owners who personally bring the goods and sell parallel imports.
According to customs statistics, 95% of those who come and go once a day at the entrance and exit are regular passengers. On the contrary, as many as 95% of those who come and go multiple times a day are parallel importers.
As for the products they carry, they are diverse.
Tobacco is only one of the few items, because Hong Kong law stipulates that you must pay tax if you carry more than 20 cigarettes, which is a box of cigarettes. People mainly carry lobsters, New Year products and pork cameras, handbags, Yakult, iPhones, tablets, and milk powder, etc.
Among them, milk powder has the greatest impact.
Because this product is a consumer product and has a shelf life, it is impossible to purchase too much. If you purchase large quantities in a short period of time, it can easily cause shortages.
In 2012, an incident caused a shortage of milk in the mainland, which led to parallel importers bringing a large number of milk powder into the mainland. Because too much milk powder was brought to the mainland, the supply of milk powder in Xiangjiang began to exceed demand in order to be able to carry more milk powder.
Some parallel importers pay NT$20 to NT$50 per can to hire elderly people to queue up at major chain stores and pharmacies to buy milk powder.
During that period, more than a dozen people queued up outside many Mannings supermarkets in Fanling every afternoon, waiting for new milk powder products to be put on the shelves at 7 or 8 p.m. to rush to buy them immediately.
Often milk powder is sold out within 15 minutes of being put on the shelves.
The same goes for the Mannings chain store in Tseung Kwan O. Every day after nightfall, more than a dozen elderly people and housewives line up outside the door. Before the store opens the next day, parallel importers show up and give money to the elderly people to buy milk powder in the store. Each person buys milk powder. The maximum limit of four cans is then returned to parallel importers until the milk powder is sold out in the store.
Same goes for pharmacies.
Liu Aiguo, chairman of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Pharmacy General Chamber of Commerce, said that when milk powder suppliers purchase goods, they stock up on previous years' sales. When the milk powder is snapped up by parallel importers, the milk powder will naturally be out of stock.
Although emergency stocking was in place, it was too much for one city in Xiangjiang to supply the mainland, especially in January 2013.
Because many people in the mainland like to give milk powder as gifts during the Lunar New Year, the supply becomes even tighter as the year draws to a close. Some pharmacies took advantage of the opportunity and raised the price of Mead Johnson A+1 by more than 40% from the original price of NT$280 to NT$400, with the higher price winning the prize.
This phenomenon did not come to an end until the dairy industry in the mainland recovered and the shortage of milk powder was no longer in short supply. However, many people have remembered the term parallel importers, and they also know that in Xiangjiang, one of the most developed cities in the world, there are also many people who do not have enough to eat.
After all, parallel importing is manual labor and relies on hard work. No one would do this unless absolutely necessary.
"In this case, let me tell you first, apart from the zero-order shipment of parallel importers, do you have any other information?" Lei Weidong waved his hand, indicating to the people below to speak.
"In addition to cigarettes, there are also large-scale tobacco smuggling groups brought by parallel importers." Yazi raised his hand and said.
"Is the large tobacco smuggling group the Lida Trading Group?" Lei Weidong asked.
"Yes!"
Yazi nodded and said, "According to the information, Lida Trading Group is suspected of smuggling cigarettes, but they do not import cigarettes from outside, but export them for domestic sales.
"Exporting to domestic sales, are there any companies producing cigarettes in Xiangjiang?" Lei Weidong asked.
Lei Weidong is familiar with the term export to domestic sales. Too many such things have happened in the mainland. Especially in the 1990s, when the state provided a large amount of subsidies for exports, fake exports and defrauding subsidies became a common phenomenon.
"Although there are no cigarette manufacturers in Xiangjiang, as the busiest port in Asia, too many goods are transshipped here every day, and the same goes for cigarettes."
Yazi explained: “Lida Trading Group is a company that deals in cigarette trading, that is, it acts as an agent for the export of different brands of cigarettes from the mainland.
They first obtained documents from the importing area, and then used the documents to purchase tax-free cigarettes from a tobacco company in Xiangjiang. Of course, these cigarettes must be exported and cannot be sold in Xiangjiang.
Because the tax on cigarettes in Xiangjiang is very high, all cigarettes sold in Xiangjiang must pay the tax first, which is 38 yuan per pack, which means that a pack of cigarettes on the market sells for 57 yuan.
Thirty-eight yuan is the government tax, and the remaining nineteen yuan is the production cost of cigarettes, transportation costs, and the profits of agents at all levels. "
"Yazi, you mean that the Lida Trading Group's cigarettes were not exported, but were exported and sold domestically."
"It's possible!" Yazi nodded and said, "According to the information, the price of cigarettes priced at fifty-seven yuan is ten yuan a box purchased by Lida Trading Group from the tobacco company.
It can’t be too high, otherwise no one will buy it. After all, not only are cigarettes produced in the mainland, there are also cigarette manufacturers in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.
After obtaining the cigarettes, Lida Trading Group did not export all the cigarettes, but entered the black market.
Now!
The wholesale price of cigarettes worth fifty-seven yuan on the black market is thirty yuan. This means that if the cigarettes in the hands of Lida Trading Group enter the black market, the profits will be nearly double, which is more than what they can make by speculating in real estate and stocks. "
"Although twice the profit is high, the tax bureau is not a vegetarian. Can it just watch the Lida Trading Group make money?" Ma Ma, who has been smoking high-priced cigarettes for more than ten years, heard that cigarettes worth fifty-seven yuan can be bought for ten yuan. Jun couldn't help but complain.
"This is not smuggling with zero orders, so no one cares about it?"
"Of course there is someone in charge." Yazi continued, "Import and export trade is the responsibility of the customs. The export customs keeps a close eye on the cigarettes purchased by Lida Trading Group, and sends people to the warehouse of Lida Trading Group for inspection from time to time.
It’s just that there are policies from above and countermeasures from below.
The profit from exporting to domestic sales is so high. In order to make money, I bribed several customs officers to obtain the customs inspection timetable and prepare in advance during the inspection.
As for exporting, it goes without saying.
Adopting the method of substituting substantive work, when reporting, it is said that the container contains cigarettes, cigarettes for export, but in fact it is not. As for the customer not receiving the goods after export, these are not important, it is easy to handle.
As for cigarettes that are not exported, they become black smoke and enter the black market.
As for the money earned from selling black cigarettes, it is easy to launder it.
Xiangjiang is one of the largest foreign exchange markets in the world. Money can enter abroad through the foreign exchange market, and then be returned from abroad in the name of payment for goods.
Because the money earned from exporting cigarettes is reasonable and legal, no one will investigate.
"In this way, if you check the container, the secret will be exposed. Can you cover the sky with one hand?" Li Ying raised his hand and asked.
"You can't hide the sky with one hand, but you can hide it from the sky." Yazi said,
"According to intelligence, ICAC officers checked the container belonging to the Lida Trading Group, but nothing was found. The container contained cigarettes.
This is no surprise!
Even if Lida Trading Group tries to show off, it cannot sell all its cigarettes domestically.
In addition, Lida Trading Group has an inside line in the customs. As soon as the Independent Commission Against Corruption was dispatched, Lida Trading Group received the news and made preparations to close the loopholes in advance.
more importantly.
Even if there were no cigarettes during the inspection, Lida Trading Group would not be breaking the law, because it is illegal as long as the goods are not on the ship. They only need to make up for the tobacco.
Lida Trading Group has been in the tobacco industry for many years. It can be said that it has seen all kinds of situations. It is not easy to catch them. "
"The ICAC was unable to find any clues because their handling of the case was too gentle. If they had the courage to defeat the money empire, not to mention one Lida trading group, even ten Lida trading groups would not be able to withstand it."
Lei Weidong shook his head and said.
"The ICAC commissioner today is far worse than before. Back then, the ICAC officers blocked Lei Le in the toilet."
"Back then, the ICAC had the support of the Governor of Hong Kong, so it had no fear of anything. Now the ICAC is an ordinary organization, so it naturally has to be more careful in its work."
"First Evolution"
Yazi shrugged and continued, "According to the intelligence, although the legal person of Lida Trading Group is Chen Chaoqun, this person is indifferent and is probably just a puppet, used to top up the tank when something goes wrong.
Even the entire Lida Trading Group is a shell company that can be abandoned at any time. "
"Although he is a puppet, after being a legal person for so many years, I believe he must know a lot of things." After looking through the information handed over by Yazi and matching the information given by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Lei Weidong patted the table and said loudly:
"Keep an eye on Chen Chaoqun and Xu Zhiyao, financial director of Lida Trading Group. These two people are the key to cracking the case. If you open a gap in them, you can follow the clues and catch the mastermind of the smuggling."
