The campaign against smuggling seems to be paying off, with agencies claiming illegal traders are getting away with less.

Over the past year, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) and its anti-smuggling agencies throughout the country investigated and dealt with 17,700 cases involving 7.84 billion yuan (US$944.5 million), according to a report it released on Thursday.

Although the number of cases was up 37 percent on the previous year, the value of goods involved dropped 21 percent.

"We think it shows that a once ever-increasing tide has been brought under control," GAC sources announced at a national conference in Haikou, capital of the island province of Hainan.

Of all the cases, 1,068 were found to be criminal, 6 percent of the total, and involved 7.34 billion yuan (US$884.3 million), or 93 percent of the total money involved.

Mou Xinsheng, GAC director, attributed the success to a series of special campaigns his team has launched on fraudulent commodity values and key contraband like finished oil products and cars.

Last year, customs duties and import-related tax revenues also increased as a result of stricter measures against smuggling and for tax collection, said Mou.

Despite consecutive tariff cuts after China's entry to the WTO, revenue from these reached a high of 474.4 billion yuan (US$57.15 billion) last year, according to the GAC.

The figure was up 27.82 percent over that of the previous year, or 103.24 billion yuan (US$12.43 billion) more than the collection target set for the whole year.

Of the total income, 104.37 billion yuan (US$12.57 billion) came from customs tariffs and 370.03 billion yuan (US$44.58 billion) from import-related taxes, up 13 and 32 percent respectively.

(China Daily January 14, 2005)