A LUXURY product smuggler who fled overseas last year was escorted back to China and detained by police in the Xiamen airport Wednesday. The suspect, surnamed Ji, was the founder of a well-known Internet technology company in Shenzhen, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Ji was a district-level lawmaker in Shenzhen before his smuggling business came to light.

His company bought brand-name garments from Europe and the United States and transported them to Hong Kong. Wu, who worked for a Shenzhen logistics company, hired parallel traders to bring the garments across the border to the warehouses of Ji’s company in Shenzhen.

Ji also mailed some of the garments across the border by submitting false information to a Shenzhen-based shopping website and a logistics company. He misrepresented the garments as self-use products and lowered their declared prices to reduce taxes and dues.

Ji’s company profiteered over 321 million yuan (US$48 million) by selling the smuggled products on its shopping website, according to the report. Ji fled overseas May 17 last year. He was detained by Interpol in Indonesia Aug. 4 and escorted back to China on Wednesday.

Thirteen suspects in the case were sued Nov. 2. Ji will also be handed over to the procuratorate to face prosecution.

China has been making efforts to catch fugitives that have fled overseas.

An economic suspect was repatriated to China from the United States on Wednesday. The suspect allegedly falsified documents and swindled loans and acceptance bills worth 354 million yuan from four financial institutions from October 2013 to April 2014. Zhou is also suspected of cheating others of more than 31 million yuan.

(Zhang Yang)