SHENZHEN authorities broke up two major silver smuggling rings involving 1.639 billion yuan (US$220 million), Shenzhen Customs announced Wednesday.
They were the largest silver smuggling rings smashed since 1949 in terms of total value involved, customs officials said.
So far, 15 suspects have been arrested, six of whom are from Hong Kong,
Two gangs of smugglers concealed silver bullion in hidden compartments in container trucks which shuttled daily between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, smuggling nearly 455 tons of silver since February this year, officials said.
After entering the mainland, the silver was transported to the provincial capital Guangzhou or elsewhere, but was never used in production, the police said.
Anti-smuggling police raided smuggling dens in Guangzhou and Shenzhen on June 20 and 26, seizing a total of 3.43 tons of silver.
According to Song Min, deputy director of Shenzhen Customs'anti-smuggling bureau, most of the silver seized was from the Chinese mainland.
Smugglers took the silver to Hong Kong to defraud the State of tax rebates.
China's silver export enterprises were eligible for a 13-percent tax rebate before July 1, 2007.
The smugglers bought silver in Hong Kong and resold it to mainland export companies to obtain the rebates fraudulently.