According to the WeChat official account news released by the customs, recently, the investigation of the series of cases of smuggling of used ships prohibited from entering the country, which were investigated by Jiangmen Customs, was completed and formally transferred to the procuratorial organ for review and prosecution. In April of this year, under the unified command of the Anti Smuggling Bureau of the General Administration of Customs and the organization and coordination of the Anti Smuggling Office of Guangdong Province, the Anti Smuggling Bureau of Jiangmen Customs, together with the Guangdong Coast Guard, Jiangmen Public Security Bureau, and Yangjiang Public Security Bureau, carried out the "Crackdown on Maritime Smuggling -04" and "Blue Sky -01" anti smuggling joint operation. They simultaneously carried out a sea, water, and land linked centralized network operation in Yangjiang, Jiangmen, and other places in Guangdong, arrested 18 people involved in the case, seized 3 domestic towing fishing boats and 4 suspected smuggled waste ships, weighing more than 2000 tons, and destroyed 4 criminal gangs that involved smuggling, towing, dismantling, and selling scrapped ships. The entire chain of smuggling, transportation, storage, and sales of foreign garbage was eradicated. The sentence is:. After investigation, it was found that the main members of the four smuggling gangs led by Li were practitioners in the ship dismantling industry. In order to seek illegal benefits, they went to a certain place overseas multiple times to purchase scrapped ships, and arranged for a tugboat company to tow the scrapped ships to the sea area near Wailingding Island. They hired fishing boats to go to the sea area and smuggled the scrapped ships into the country by connecting steel cables and towing them to a ship dismantling factory in the Moyang River section of Yangjiang City for dismantling. Afterwards, they sold the dismantled steel and other materials to domestic customers for profit. From April 2023 until the incident, the gang smuggled a total of 20 used ships weighing 15000 tons. After appraisal, all the scrapped ships involved are prohibited by the state from importing foreign garbage. The anti smuggling department of Jiangmen Customs introduced that according to the "Announcement on Adjusting the Waste Management Catalogue" (No. 6 of 2018) jointly issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the General Administration of Customs, scrapped ships will be included in the "Catalogue of Prohibited Solid Waste Imports" from December 31, 2018. During the dismantling process of smuggled waste ships, oily water flows into the riverbank, posing a serious threat to the ecological environment. Smugglers use fishing boats connected to steel cables to tow smuggled scrap ships into the country. During the towing process, there is always a risk of the ship capsizing, which seriously endangers the safety of the sea and inland waterways. After investigating the case, the anti smuggling department of Jiangmen Customs, in collaboration with environmental protection, market supervision, waterway management, maritime and other departments, promptly and safely disposed of the involved scrapped ships, maximizing the protection of the ecological environment and waterway safety. (New Society)