Two couples in Xi’an are under investigation from making and selling counterfeit baijiu, police found 412 bottles of liquor worth nearly 90,000 yuan
The accused purchased a batch of low priced baijiu and packed them in to premium baijiu bottles. After packaging, the baiju was put up for sale on the Internet.
On the evening of January 13, Mawang Market Supervision Office of Xixi received a letter from Dengfeng, Henan, to assist in the investigation of counterfeit baijiu cases.
After thorough investigation, a genuine baijiu supplier named Ma came forward and explained that he contacted a baijiu supplier via a mobile phone number given out over the internet. After a deal had been arranged between Ma and the seller, the seller produced counterfeit baijiu.
After receiving the letter, the Mawang Market Supervision Office immediately contacted the local case handlers and learned that Ma’s fake baijiu supplier was in their jurisdiction. As a result, law enforcement officers proceeded to investigate through the night, and found that all the information was pointing to a location on the outskirts of the village. After the first night spent investigating the area they returned without any outcome, the law enforcement officers contacted the village officials, hoping that they could provide the whereabouts information of the people suspected in faking the baijiu.
On the evening of the 15th, the police arrived at an address in the village where the suspects where know to live. “We reached the house and knocked, no people answered the door, and there are no lights coming out from the door’s crack. After we entered the house, there were 3 rooms in the courtyard, and the windows and doors of each room were covered with thick felt to completely isolate the sound and light. ”
According to law enforcement officials, two men and two women were found at the scene and they were 2 pairs of couples. “The main suspect named Xiang was 39-year-old. He asked his wife to help him out, later, the wife dragged along her elder brother and sister-in-law to assist them. At the scene, a large number of empty bottles, packing boxes, self-printed labels, etc were found.
According to law enforcement officials the counterfeit baijiu found at the scene included fake “Guojiao 1573”, “Wuliangye”, “Jiannanchun”, and “Xifengliunian”. A Total of 412 bottles of 6 batches of liquor were found, with a value of nearly 90,000 yuan. There was also a vehicle and counterfeit equipment found on the scene.
Further investigation revealed that the suspect Xiang had started renting houses in the village last August to produce and sell the counterfeit baijiu. The suspects bought low priced baijiu from the wholesale market and then simply blended it to match the different brands of baijiu and then packed it into identical packaging. Law enforcement officials said that “Xiang and his fellow members bought a total of 9 different low priced barrels of baijiu and blended them into 6 different branded baijius. In order to prevent people from noticing and exposing them, Xiang started production at night, and based on initial investigation, a total of 120 bottles of counterfeit baijiu were able to be produced every night.