Briefs | Macau, HK deputies briefed on top legislature’s work

China’s top legislature Wednesday briefed deputies from Hong Kong and Macau to the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) on its major work in 2019 and the preliminary plan for this year in the city of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. Yang Zhenwu, secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee, called on Hong Kong and Macau deputies to make preparations for the upcoming annual session of the NPC, fulfill their duties in accordance with the law and take an active part in the management of state affairs. The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance also informed the deputies of the implementation of the annual plan on national economic and social development and the implementation of the central budgets in 2019.

19 suspects arrested for smuggling watches

Police in Guangdong Province have recently broken up a gang who smuggled watches, the local customs office said. An investigation showed that a smuggling gang made use of a watch trading company to purchase medium and high-grade watches abroad, brought them back to China through the mail with counterfeit declarations or by smugglers and finally sold them via online platforms for profit. More than 90,000 smuggled watches worth 400 million yuan ($58 million) were involved in the case. On Jan. 6, the anti-smuggling bureau of the General Administration of Customs launched a raid, teamed up with customs of Shanghai and Guangdong, and arrested 19 suspects in different localities. Further investigation into the case is underway.

25,000 suspects captured for online gambling

Chinese police cracked over 7,200 criminal cases of online gambling and detained 25,000 suspects in 2019, the Ministry of Public Security said yesterday. The police seized and froze more than 18 billion yuan (about $2.62 billion) of gambling-related money last year, said Li Jingsheng, an official with the ministry, at a press conference. More than 1,100 Chinese suspects involved in cross-border online gambling were handed over to Chinese police from overseas in 2019, said Li, adding that the police destroyed the networks of foreign casinos soliciting gamblers in China. The ministry also unveiled 10 typical cases of cross-border online gambling. In one case, police in Guangdong Province arrested 112 suspects and froze 112 million yuan of crime-related money after destroying a criminal gang that operated online gambling in last September.