SHOCKING details were exposed Thursday by a Chinese-language newspaper about rampant corruption in a Shatoujiao customs department in Yantian District that involved five customs officials who have been arrested and are awaiting trial.

    All five officers in the department, which is in charge of border-crossing vehicle inspections on Zhongying Street, took bribes from smugglers who hid illegal goods in vehicles in exchange for a green light to cross the border between May of last year and January of this year when they were caught, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    Zheng Xiaowu, the department head, divided the officers into three teams, assigned the plate numbers of the vehicles that were carrying the smuggled goods to each officer and then designated an officer to contact the smugglers to ask for money. Each vehicle was charged between 1,200-1,500 yuan (US$190-238) for each crossing. Each officer was given 300-500 yuan for each smuggler they green-lighted, and the ill-gotten money was distributed between them at the end of each month. Each officer earned between 30,000-40,000 yuan each month, according to the report.

    Chen Jianhua, vice director of a neighborhood committee in Yantian who was arrested for smuggling and paying bribes, paid 650,000 yuan to the officers over six days last December to smuggle in items 56 times using two vehicles.

    Zhongying Street is governed by the mainland on one side and by Hong Kong on the other. Inbound travelers are not allowed to carry daily necessities worth more than 3,000 yuan across the border each time.

    Zheng Xiaowu was also accused of paying 210,000 yuan in bribes to Wu Wenkui, head of Shatoujiao Customs, and 130,000 yuan to Chen Ruiquan, deputy Party chief of customs, who in turn promoted Zheng as department chief.

    The trials for Wu and Chen are ongoing.(Mu Zi)