Legal Daily All-Media Reporter Cai Yanhong
Huangpu Customs reported on April 23 that with the arrest of Hu Mouqiang, the last main culprit of the "1.17" ivory smuggling case investigated by the Huangpu Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau, all suspects in this case involving more than 20 tons were arrested. This case is the case with the largest number of ivory investigations and seized by China's customs in recent years.
Smuggled ivory seized on site by Huangpu Customs. Photo by Lin Xiaowei
According to reports, Hu Mouqiang is one of the main culprits in the case. He is responsible for purchasing ivory in Africa and transporting it to China after hiding it. He has been fleeing since the incident. After careful analysis by Huangpu Customs' anti-smuggling department, the Hu may have been hiding in an African country. With the assistance of the China Central Bureau of Interpol issued a red notice to him, and pursued the fugitive through the channel. In December 2020, Hu Mouqiang was arrested by Ghana's law enforcement agencies when he entered the country. In March this year, with the full assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Civil Aviation Administration of Civil Aviation, the General Administration of Customs quickly sent a working group to Ghana to carry out overseas escort tasks. With the strong assistance of our relevant embassies and consulates abroad, we handled the transfer and acceptance procedures of the suspect Hu Mouqiang with the Ghanaian law enforcement department and escorted him back to China.
The suspect in the extra-large ivory smuggling case, Hu Mouqiang, was escorted back to China. Photo by Pu Xuan
Also arrested this year is the first criminal Chen Moucheng in the case. In July 2019, a red notice was issued to Chen Moucheng through the Interpol. The customs anti-smuggling department continued to carry out pursuit and fugitive work. With the active coordination of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the China- Malaysia bilateral police cooperation mechanism, in January this year, Chen Moucheng, who fled to Malaysia, was forced to return to China to surrender.
It is understood that in July 2013, the former customs officer of Huangpu Customs office in Shatin inspected the 4 cabinets of imported hedgehog red sandalwood on the spot and found that 4.46 tons of ivory original teeth were hidden. The Huangpu Customs Anti-smuggling Bureau quickly intervened and filed a case to investigate the case, and initially found out that the actual shipment of the batch of goods was Nigeria, Africa. The consignee of this batch of wood was then locked in the three fathers and sons, but the relevant suspects had all fled abroad.
The suspect in the extra-large ivory smuggling case, Hu Mouqiang, was arrested. Photo by Zhang Hailong
In response to this, the customs anti-smuggling personnel were persevering, keeping a close eye on it, and doing their best to pursue the fugitive. However, the arrest work is difficult and the case tracking was once interrupted. In 2018, anti-smuggling personnel of Huangpu Customs discovered that the houses of these fugitives had been luxuriously decorated and had purchased luxury houses in the country. Therefore, they suspected that they might still be engaging in smuggling crimes during their abscond. In November 2018, a suspected fugitive suspect Chen Mouzong returned to China, and Huangpu Customs anti-smuggling personnel successfully arrested him.
After Chen Mouzong was arrested, a new breakthrough was made in the case investigation work. In January 2019, under the unified command of the General Administration of Customs, the Huangpu Customs Anti-smuggling Bureau established the "1.17" task force. During the investigation, anti-smuggling personnel found that most of Chen Mouzong's activities were in Guangdong, Fujian, and a small county town in Anhui. After further visits, it was found that there was also a Malaysian businessman named Cai who often appeared in Anhui County. It was confirmed that Chen and his son organized the acquisition of ivory on Nigeria , Cai was responsible for cross-border customs clearance, warehousing, and Lin was responsible for sales.
In March 2019, the case command issued a closing order, arresting 20 criminal suspects on the spot and seizing 2748 sections of ivory, totaling 7.48 tons. After investigation, the main culprits of the case, Chen Moucheng, Chen Mouzong and his son, have purchased ivory from Africa and Nigeria since 2013, and have used various methods such as hiding to smuggle into the country. They have smuggled a total of 20.22 tons of ivory, of which 4,661 original ivory teeth were seized and seized by our customs.
Source: Rule of Law Daily—Legal Network
