China’s Qingdao city customs uncovered last year soybean smuggling worth 5.46 billion yuan ($869.50 million), one of the biggest such cases in the country in years, a state-run newspaper reported.
The official Legal Daily, in a report published on Monday, said a trading company was suspected of smuggling soybeans after customs officials assessed soy prices for potential risk, but it did not name the company involved.
The case came to light after the customs unit in the eastern coastal city seized some 730 contracts, some of which were falsified, and got access to 80,000 emails, the paper said. The unit also arrested four people in the cities of Linyi, Dalian and Shenzhen, it reported.
Customs officials could not be reached for comment.
Qingdao Customs last year told Reuters they had detained three employees at a subsidiary of the Japanese trading giant Marubeni Corp on suspicion of smuggling.
Read the full story on Reuters.com.
