Note: It is illegal to sell IQOS online in China.
illegal on the The reporter learned from the Zhejiang Provincial Tobacco Monopoly Bureau on November 30 that, a few days ago, the Taizhou Tobacco Monopoly Bureau of the province, in conjunction with local police, moved to multiple provinces and cities in the country, and it took several months to uncover a smuggling entry, WeChat distribution, and express delivery. The entire chain of heat-not-burn cigarettes (iqos) illegally operated the entire chaincase, and 7 suspects were arrested, with a total amount of 5.67 million yuan.
It is reported that the case involved 34 cities in 16 provinces (cities) across the country, including Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, and Sichuan, as well as Russia and multiple border ports in China.
Heat-not-burn cigarettes are a new type of tobacco product, which is a tobacco monopoly like traditional cigarettes. Earlier, the Taizhou Tobacco Monopoly Bureau discovered that a WeChat account had been publishing a large number of heat-not-burn cigarette advertising information and transaction records, and express delivery information in Moments for a long time, suspected of selling cigarettes through mobile self-media. As related content showed that the amount involved in the case was relatively large, Taizhou Tobacco Monopoly Bureau quickly established a joint task force with the local public security department to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the case.
During the period, the task force worked together to overcome unfavorable factors such as the epidemic, and went to Heilongjiang three times to trace the source of the case, arrest the supplier of the case, and rush to 11 provinces including Jiangsu, Fujian, and Guangdong to find out the facts of cigarette sales. After months of online analysis, in-depth digging, offline tracking, and multi-party evidence collection, the level of the illegal operation of heat not burn cigarettes has been gradually clarified. The illegal operation of cigarette groups headed by Wang and Yang released information through WeChat. After receiving orders, Heilongjiang and Taizhou, Zhejiang launched the online distribution of Russian HEETS, IQOS, and other heat-not-burn cigarettes to obtain high illegal profits and sell cigarettes to all parts of the country.
At present, the 7 persons involved in the case have all been sentenced, which has effectively deterred the illegal operation of heat-not-burn cigarettes.
