48 arrested

THE Chinese coast guard detained 48 people for smuggling diesel fuel and seized seven ships as well as 3,650 tons of fuel, authorities in east China’s Jiangsu Province said yesterday.

The seized fuel is estimated to be worth around 20 million yuan (US$3.12 million), according to authorities.

The ships sailed from coastal Zhejiang and Fujian provinces to the open sea to pick up the fuel, then smuggled it to Jiangsu, authorities said.

Local coast guard received reports of illegal fuel trade in the Nantong sector of the Yangtze River on June 7 and sent patrol ships to investigate. The guard caught the suspected smugglers June 8.

Fake cosmetic injections

POLICE in East China’s Jiangsu Province arrested 34 people suspected of manufacturing and selling fake beauty injections.

The suspects were arrested in two operations, and fake products and materials worth over 38 million yuan (US$6 million) were seized, Zhenjiang police said yesterday.

The products include 2,800 fake botox injections, as well as 11,500 fake injections of hyaluronic acid, lipodissolve, and other substances.

Botox is a type of nerve blocker often commercially advertised to reduce wrinkles and slim the face, but laws state it can only be used in qualified beauty parlors, police said.

Foreign garbage

CHINA has handled 248 cases of illegal trash imports in the first five months of the year, seizing 955,800 tons of foreign garbage, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said yesterday.

The GAC began its largest campaign against illegal trash imports in May, seizing 137,000 tons of foreign garbage.

This year, the customs authority launched a crackdown targeting the smuggling of foreign garbage, agricultural products, drugs, guns, and other products.