Seven gangs suspected of smuggling rice have been busted in southern China, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Monday.
They are suspected of smuggling 13,400 tons of rice worth about 67 million yuan (10.31 million U.S. dollars).
With the help of local police, customs authorities in Chongqing, Kunming, Changsha and Guiyang arrested 34 suspects and seized more than 1,000 tons of rice in the operation on Saturday morning.
The rice, which was bought in Myanmar and Vietnam, was smuggled into southwest China's Yunnan Province, repackaged and then sold in places including Chongqing and the provinces of Hunan and Guizhou, the GAC said.
Since the start of the year, customs authorities at all levels have strengthened efforts to crack down on grain smuggling to protect farmers' interests and safeguard the security of the country's agricultural industry.
As of March 5, customs nationwide had cracked 174 grain smuggling cases. More than 50,000 tons of grain were involved in those cases.
