Chinese customs detained 58 people on suspicion of smuggling 111.2 thousand tons of waste, including plastic and slag waste, during a special customs operation, the Main Customs Directorate of the People’s Republic of China / GTUK / reported on the eve.

On Tuesday, under the unified leadership of the State Customs Committee, 75 groups of 416 local customs inspectors simultaneously raided 11 provincial administrative units, including Tianjin and Prov. Guangdong, and exposed 23 gangs involved in illegal traffic in waste.

According to the official representative of the State Customs Committee, the import of solid waste and the number of cases of illegal smuggling continued to decline, as China is stubbornly struggling with such cases.

According to customs data, China launched five rounds of anti-smuggling last year, during which 481 cases of foreign smuggling were investigated and 1.55 million tons of illegally imported waste were recovered.

Chinese customs will continue to tighten control and crack down on illegal cases, as well as urge criminals to surrender voluntarily, the spokesman said.

China, which began importing solid waste as a raw material since the 1980s, has been the largest importer in the world for many years, despite the country’s poor waste disposal capabilities. Some companies profited from the smuggling of foreign waste into the country, posing a threat to the environment and public health.

As part of its efforts to combat environmental pollution, the Chinese government decided to phase out and stop such imports by the end of 2019.