Recently, with the assistance of RELX, the Shenzhen police in Guangdong, China successfully cracked a gang involving the sale of counterfeit RELX vape with a value of more than 800,000 yuan.
On December 9, after preliminary investigations and judgments, the Food, Drug and Environmental Investigation Detachment of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, the Public Security Section of the Futian Sub-bureau, and the Huaqiangbei Police Station of the Futian Sub-bureau launched a unified operation to attack the four Nijia Electronics outlets involved in the case. At the shop of Nijia Electronics located in an electronic accessories market in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen, the police seized a large number of counterfeit Relx vapes, and arrested 5 suspects including Shen, the person in charge of the store, on the spot. In this operation, a total of 910 sets of counterfeit starter kits and 6090 boxes of vape cartridges were seized in Nijia Electronics’ shops and warehouses. In addition to selling in stores, the counterfeit gang also conducts onlines sales through on platforms such as WeChat.
It is understood that before being seized by the police, Nijia Electronics and the counterfeiting gang were administratively punished for selling counterfeit RELX vapes. However, the gang did not stop in time. Instead, they continued to sell fakes in a more concealed manner. They adopted methods such as changing shop signs and switching to online sales, which greatly increased the difficulty of law enforcement. After receiving the report, the relevant law enforcement agencies made repeated arrangements and deployed controls, and finally succeeded in destroying the counterfeit sales den in this operation.
In recent years, some counterfeit products that are shoddy and of worrying quality have seriously affected the order of the e-cigarette market and the lives of consumers. Since 2019, RELX has launched the Golden Shield Operation to assist relevant law enforcement agencies in cracking down on counterfeiting dens and sales channels, and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. As of December 2021, the Rescue Golden Shield Operation has initiated 46 criminal cases against counterfeiting, 6 civil cases, and 52 administrative cases, involving a total amount of more than 83 million yuan.
The person in charge of the RELX Golden Shield operation stated that in the past work, RELX found that the products sold by these counterfeit dens often came from the uncertificated small workshops, and then sold through some offline counterfeit outlets and Wechat business featuring its low price.
However, the production environment of these small workshops is harsh, there is no quality testing equipment, the products with formaldehyde, benzene series and other carcinogens seriously exceed the standard, and there are major safety hazards such as battery explosion, which seriously threatens the safety of consumers. “The counterfeiters in the small workshop do not wear gloves and masks during the operation, and no disinfection, no dust prevention, and no epidemic prevention measures are were taken.” The person in charge of the RELX Golden Shield operation reminded consumers to choose regular sales channels and lines and purchase RELX products in authorized stores.
