Approximately 400 live, black ants neatly packaged in glass test tubes, fitted with dampened cotton balls, were discovered in the unidentified individual’s luggage.

After customs agents questioned the owner of the package, they learned that another package containing ants was en route to Chengdu from Hamburg, Germany. Sure enough, when the package arrived, customs agents discovered another 400 live ants packaged the same way.

The People’s Daily Online report made no mention of what the smuggled ants were intended for, which frankly, could be anyone’s guess. An investigation into the case is pending.

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Under an amendment recently passed by the National People’s Congress (NPC), the number of crimes punishable by death in China will be reduced from 54 to 45.

The amendment, effective November 1, will remove the following from the list of offences punishable by death: smuggling weapons, ammunition, nuclear materials or counterfeit currency; raising funds by means of fraud; arranging for or coercing another person to engage in prostitution; obstructing a police officer or a person on duty from performing his duties; counterfeiting currency; and fabricating rumors to mislead others during wartime.

This is the second time since 1979, when the Criminal Law was enacted, that China has reformed sentencing. In 2011, the death penalty was removed for 13 non-violent crimes, including: smuggling cultural relics, gold and silver; carrying out fraud related to financial bills; forging or selling forged exclusive value-added tax invoices; teaching criminal methods; and robbing ancient cultural ruins.

The number of criminals executed in China each year is not made public, although the Dui Hua Foundation had estimated the number to be around 2,400 in 2013, which was more than all other countries’ executions combined. Capital punishment in China is usually performed by way of firing squad, although lethal injection has increasingly been used.

Capital punishment is supported by a relatively slim majority of the Chinese people; a 2007 poll of Beijing, Hunan, and Guangdong found that 57 percent of respondents were in favor of it.

Other recent changes to China’s criminal law system include:

• Sex with an underage prostitute will be “reclassified” as rape, which will attract harsher penalties
• For the first time, men will be considered as victims of sexual assaults
• For the first time, criminal penalties for people convicted of purchasing abducted women and children
• Tougher sentences for assaulting a police officer (on duty) and for contempt of court
• The promotion of terrorism or extremism by producing and distributing terror-related information will face more than five years in prison, as will instigators of terrorist activities
• Up to life imprisonment for cases involving cults

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Fifteen people are still missing after a boat suspected of carrying illegal migrants from mainland China capsized off the coast of Macau.

The incident happened around 4:50am today (February 27) near the Westin Hotel on Coloane Island. Police arriving at the scene found three survivors that had made it to shore, and rescued a fourth from the water who was sent to hospital for medical treatment. The survivors say the boat was carrying 19 people, three of whom were employed with the smugglers.

The Macao Customs Authority says the boat was used by smugglers to get mainland Chinese citizens into Macau illegally.

Category six to seven winds are hampering rescue efforts, and may have been a factor in the sinking. Police say no bodies have been recovered so far.

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Several parallel traders managed to smuggle out close to 100 cans of baby formulas.

A principal magistrate in Hong Kong has lashed out at cross-border baby formula parallel traders, calling the trend of formula smuggled from Hong Kong to mainland China a national shame, the harshest words uttered by a principal magistrate on the controversial issue.

While hearing 23 cases involving cross-border traders on February 4, Bernadette Woo Huey-fang, the principal magistrate of Fanlin Court, reprimanded the suspects in Cantonese. “Isn’t it sad that one dares not even to eat the baby formula produced by one’s own country?”“Isn’t it sad that one dares not even to eat the baby formula produced by one’s own country?” Then she repeated it again in Mandarin, which is understood in the mainland, and added that the situation is a “national shame” before handing out a verdict on three mainland suspects.

The suspects were sentenced to two weeks in jail for carrying baby formula weighing between 16.8kg and 20.8kg, far surpassing the legal limit of 1.8kg. That limit was introduced by the Hong Kong government in 2013 in the face of growing complaints from local residents wary of increasingly limited resources because of parallel traders taking stock into the mainland. Other suspects in similar cases were fined up to RMB 6,900.

Woo said cross-border parallel trading has become “rampant”. Illegal smugglers who carried more than 20kg to 30kg of baby formula have become so common that the court has had to handle “an unprecedented” number of cases. “The court has raised financial punishment fees but it did not frighten parallel traders. (We) understand it’s a social problem, and the court has tried to be understanding of this. But it has grown out of control,” the magistrate said.

According to figures released by the city’s Customs and Excise Department, 7,638 people have been convicted of smuggling formula since 2013, and about 45,500kg has been confiscated. But among the nearly 7,700 convicts, just 69 have been jailed.

After the tainted Sanlu Milk Formula Scandal in 2008 that claimed at least six babies lives and sickening more than 290,000 others, mainlanders’ confidence in China-made baby formula brands dropped to an all-time low, spurring new moms and parallel traders to stock up on imported baby formula from other foreign countries.

Hong Kong, however, is not the only jurisdiction feeling the pinch from mainlanders’ inexhaustible demand for baby formula. The U.S., New Zealand, Australia, Germany and Holland have all introduced similar bans on the amount of formula mainlanders can purchase.

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An entire sub-department of the Huanggang border crossing, which links Shenzhen with Hong Kong, devised a complex scheme to accept bribes in exchange for free passage for smugglers that had considered themselves “infallible”, a Shenzhen court learned on February 5.

Eight customs agents are now on trial for bribery, having accepted amounts between RMB 6,000 and RMB 10,000. The section chief, on-duty deputy section chief and on-duty officers all shared the bribes and in exchange allowed smugglers safe passage through the border without trouble.

The crossing, along with others at Luohu, Futian, and Shenzhen Bay, are popular places for people to smuggle goods such as iPhones and other products.

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An affidavit filed with the US federal court on Tuesday revealed a Canadian resident of Windsor, Ontario was arrested for smuggling 51 turtles hidden under his sweatpants while attempting to cross the Canada-USA border at the Detroit-Windsor crossing, reports the Toronto Star.

READ: Shark Fin Washed In Hydrogen Peroxide Sold To Unwitting Consumers

Kai Xu has been charged with smuggling and illegally exporting fish or wildlife by a US court, and may be sentenced up to 10 years in a federal prison.

Xu was found to have 41 live turtles taped to his legs, and another ten turtles “hidden between his legs.”

READ: Foreigner Caught Smuggling Live Birds
in His Jeans at Guangzhou Airport

This collection of “family jewels” included Eastern box turtles, Red-eared sliders, and Diamondback terrapins and are estimated to be worth between $1,300 to $1,500.

Xu was apparently planning to board a flight to Shanghai, but the final destination for the leg-strapped turtles was likely on a dinner plate.

Ed Grace, deputy chief law enforcement officer with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, noted that there is demand for the turtles in Asian food and collector markets. “Not just with turtles, I see it with ginseng, I see it with how wildlife in the United States can be, you know, coveted by collectors or for food markets,” he said.

Guangdong Province is often the final destination for a huge number of smuggled animals, many of which are intended for consumption. Previous cases include chinchillas, pangolins, another incident involving turtles, and another case of trying to stuff animals down one’s pants, this time involving birds.

Related:

• Fujian Fishermen Catch Endangered 2 Ton Whale Shark
• Yulin Draws Foreigners Who Dine on Dog Meat
• Bear torture company targeted by animal rights activists in Shenzhen
• Phew: Images of disemboweled tiger in Guangzhou were fake

Photo: the Star

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The nationalist newspaper Global Times said lust after the product and the opportunists that are trying cater to it have both made China lose face on an international scale; “face”, of course, being the ancient concept that the respect of a person or entity is entirely dependent upon what others think of you/it.

READ: iPhone 6 Selfie Spreads on Chinese Social Networks

The Global Times points to three individuals arrested for fighting outside an Apple store as an example, noting all three are “Chinese nationals”. In fact, the paper even printed this passage:

A US police officer insulted (the Chinese people waiting in line), saying, ‘Haven’t you people ever heard of soap?‘ After this incident comes to be known in China, it will be an embarrassment for many people here.

READ: Unreleased Hong Kong and US Versions of iPhone 6
Already on Sale in Beijing for US$4,500

So what does the Global Times think of iPhone 6 owners?

Most people do it for vanity so that they can show it off. It’s as though having an iPhone 6 right now is so awesome, as if it were trendy, cool, and impressive. But in fact, the people that now have the iPhone 6 aren’t what they think they are.

READ: Chinese Line Up Globally To Buy – And Then Sell – the iPhone 6

The reckless drive for profit is not just something that Chinese have done, but Marx described how profit can warp human nature. At the time he said it, he was referring to Westerners.
…
To borrow a phrase, “If there is no buying or selling, then there is no loss of face.”

READ: Shenzhen: The Cradle of the iPhone, and Also its Huge Resale Market

The op-ed concludes by saying why Chinese people should be ashamed:

Many people say the iPhone 6 exploits the Chinese people by performing mental experiments in the form of number of marketing tricks, thus proving that there are fools with too much money in the Chinese market. This is the place where there is a real loss of face. That’s why whomever has an iPhone 6 deserves to be looked down upon with despise.

With the blame fully doled out, no mention was made in the op-ed of the reason behind the delayed launch of the iPhone 6 in China. As reported by AsiaOne, Beijing’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not list the iPhone 6 as having been approved for the Chinese market before its worldwide launch.

READ: No Mooncakes, No work! Workers at Apple’s Supplier
in Dongguan on Strike

Though the iPhone 5s launched in China simultaneously with the rest of the world, this iPhone hit a snag when CCTV accused Apple of threatening national security by being able to track a user’s location. However, rumors are the iPhone 6 is set to go on sale in China on October 10.

Related:

• Chinese iPhone Buyers Brawl in the US as Local Launch Nears
• Woman Claims iPhone 5s Burned Her Face, And Has Photos to Prove It
• Massive Recruitment Drive Underway in China To Build Apple’s Next iPhone

Photo: Reuters

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READ: Chinese Line Up Globally To Buy – And Then Sell – the iPhone 6

Since its release seven days ago, over 2,000 iPhones 6 have been seized at Luohu border customs in Shenzhen. Nearby in Huaqiang North, a mecca for iPhone resales, the iPhone 6 is currently selling for RMB 6,800.

Meanwhile in Shanghai, 335 iPhones 6 have been seized at Pudong International Airport during the same period.

READ: Unreleased Hong Kong and US Versions of iPhone 6
Already on Sale in Beijing for US$4,500

Some people just don’t see what the fuss is about. China Daily reports that despite costing around $1,000, the iPhone 6 is only worth between $200 and $247 in spare parts. Furthermore, the cost of labor is between $4 and $4.50 per phone.

But that’s some people. Others will do anything to get their hands on Apple’s latest gadget, with the iPhone “selfie” spreading on Chinese social networks.

With this much hype and anticipation, it isn’t hard to see why people won’t try to exploit the situation. Unfortunately an unlucky Wuhan employee was cheated by his very own boss.

The man, Xiaoliu, was promised that if he and his coworkers completed a project on time, they would all each be rewarded with “Apple 6”. As it turned out, this meant a reward of six apples.

We assume, after giving Xiaoliu his prize, the boss said:  “How do you like dem apples?”

Related:

• Chinese iPhone Buyers Brawl in the US as Local Launch Nears
• Massive Recruitment Drive Underway in China To Build Apple’s Next iPhone
• No Mooncakes, No work! Workers at Apple’s Supplier in Dongguan on Strike
• Shenzhen: The Cradle of the iPhone, and Also its Huge Resale Market
• Woman Claims iPhone 5s Burned Her Face, And Has Photos to Prove It

Photos: Shenzhen Evening Report (2), Hong Kong Culture Exchange Net, China Daily, Weibo (2)

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The smuggler, a man in his sixties, carried an old satchel and followed the crowd when entering Luohu checkpoint. During an inspection, customs officers discovered a vacuum-sealed bag wrapped with yellow adhesive tape. When they decompressed the bag, they found two bunches of animal fur, totaling 56 pelts.

The pelts were handed over to the anti-smuggling department, which had the pelts analysed. An investigation by the Research Institute of Southern China for Endangered Animals in Guangdong Province revealed the animal fur consisted of 56 whole pieces of chinchilla fur.

Chinchillas have the finest fur of all mammals, making their fur very soft. They have great appeal, like cuddly little “balls of fur”. Their exceedingly soft, dense coat has more fur per square inch than any other known mammal.

Each of their hair follicles is able to grow 40 to 60 individual hairs. One breed of chinchilla can grow 80 hairs per follicle, while cats and dogs can only grow one to three hairs per follicle.

The price of chinchilla fur is equal to that of gold by its weight.

The chinchilla is currently categorized as a critically endangered species and is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. While most trade in chinchilla pelts are done using domesticated farms, chinchillas are still massively hunted in the wild, threatening it with extinction.

Photo: Caijing

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If you’re unfamiliar with khat, which is also known by the names “Arabian Tea” or “Bushman’s Tea”, the Guangzhou police want you to be aware that this drug is equivalent to heroin and has a euphoric high that lasts for two days.

Described as relatively new to China, the emergence of khat is troubling to local law officials because the drug looks like amaranth greens when fresh, and like dried tea leaves when dried.

READ: Meet the New Drug on the Streets of Guangzhou: Khat, the “Arabian Tea”

Khat received lots of attention recently when it was reported the drug was being packaged in orange drink powder packages with cartoon images on the front.

Khat is considered a way of life for some cultures though it is considered a prohibited substance in countries like the USA and the UK. The World Health Organization does not consider khat to be seriously addictive.

Related:

• Nigerian Man Caught Using Chinese Girlfriend to Smuggle Drugs Out of Guangdong
• Foreigner Caught Smuggling Live Birds in His Jeans at Guangzhou Airport 

Photo: Dongguan Daily Report

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