Illicit machinery seized in China

Shanghai police have busted a seven-member gang that built and sold illicit cigarette-making machines nationwide, according to a story by Janet Zhang for the Shanghai Daily quoting Shanghai Television.

In China, tobacco production and sales are under state control.

The gang, which apparently operated out of the Jiading District of Shanghai, sold their machines to people in other provinces, including Fujian, Liaoning and Guangdong.

When the police busted the gang on July 12, they seized 19 machines.

According to the police, the gang had been running the business since October 2014.

They bought machine parts from other places and hired people to assemble them in Jiading. The machines, which were said to have sold at prices ranging from 250,000 yuan to 400,000 yuan, were capable of producing 2,000 cigarettes a minute.