A new development has emerged in the 2012 Ningde Customs smuggling case.
In 2012, Wang Xuelan was arrested on suspicion of smuggling general goods. In 2016, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined 1.5 million yuan.
However, Wang Xuelan claimed that he only coordinated the unloading of goods at the dock, and the real mastermind was Wang Shizeng, the cargo owner who planned the smuggling.
The 2012 “Indictment Opinion” of the Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau identified Wang Shizeng as the main culprit, but in the 2013 “Indictment” of the Ningde Municipal Procuratorate, Wang Shizeng’s name disappeared, and he was not mentioned in the subsequent four trials, eventually escaping legal sanctions.
And Yang Daiqin, who was involved in the loading, unloading, and transfer of frozen goods, and Xie Min, who directed the former—Wang Shizeng’s relative—also got away unscathed.
01 After cargo owners Xie Min and Yang Daiqin were released on bail
Customs suppressed the case and did not investigate for more than twelve years
Xie Min is Wang Shizeng’s brother-in-law, and Yang Daiqin is Wang Shizeng’s nephew. After Wang Shizeng was not prosecuted, they voluntarily surrendered to the Ningde Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau and were immediately released on bail.
Since then, the Ningde Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau has suppressed the case and did not investigate it further, allowing the two to go unpunished for more than twelve years.
After being released from prison in 2023, Wang Xuelan immediately hired two lawyers to begin appealing and filing complaints. In May 2024, Wang Xuelan filed a request for investigation supervision with the Ningde Municipal People’s Procuratorate, believing that Xie Min and Yang Daiqin, who were accomplices in the case, surrendered to the Ningde Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau in 2014, but the bureau has not yet transferred the case for review and prosecution.
The court then handed the case to Zhang Hui, who was the prosecutor in Wang Xuelan’s case, but Zhang Hui had a conflict of interest and provided the agent with a false office phone number, so the agent applied for his recusal. Later, the court handed the case to the Second Department of Procuratorial Affairs of the court to handle.
Picture: The scene of the crime, the Bachi Gate Wharf in Fuding, which is now abandoned
However, after a delay, the court replied in November 2024: the evidence of Xie and Yang’s intention to smuggle was weak and did not meet the evidence standards for transfer to review and prosecution, so it was not inappropriate not to transfer for review and prosecution that year.
02 Wang Xuelan met with the prosecutor
To explain the evidence of Xie Min and Yang Daiqin’s involvement in the case
Wang Xuelan does not agree with this reply.
In December 2024, Wang Xuelan and his agent went to the Ningde Municipal People’s Procuratorate, where they were received by the prosecutor in charge, who explained the law and answered questions. His statements were basically consistent with the previous reply from the Ningde Municipal People’s Procuratorate.
However, during the more than one-hour conversation, Wang Xuelan and his agent found that the prosecutor did not know that they had also submitted to the Ningde Municipal People’s Procuratorate direct evidence of the Ningde Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau concealing Wang Shizeng’s involvement in the case, and evidence materials related to Xie Min and Yang Daiqin’s involvement—this evidence was sufficient to prove that Yang Daiqin and Xie Min had the subjective intention to smuggle.
After listening to the agent’s opinions, the prosecutor arranged for an assistant to make detailed records of the above-mentioned concealed evidence, etc., and said that he would report to the leaders for further review.
After the meeting, the agent wrote to the procurator general and the supervising procurator of the Ningde Municipal Procuratorate, explaining that the current handling conclusion was obviously inappropriate, possibly due to problems in the material handover process, and suggested that the court re-examine it carefully.
The letter was also accompanied by a formal legal opinion issued by the agent. In the opinion, the agent, based on the case files and evidence, pointed out that there were four instances of smuggling American frozen goods into the country in this case, in which Yang Daiqin was involved in the entire process of directing and participating in receiving the smuggled frozen goods, including directing the scene at the Bachi Gate Wharf twice, and directing at the rented cold storage twice.
Picture: Wang Xuelan returns to the scene of the crime, the weighbridge at Bachi Gate Wharf
Regarding the statement that “the evidence of Yang Daiqin’s intention to smuggle is weak”, there is also sufficient evidence in the case files to refute it:
(1) In the four instances of smuggling in this case, Yang Daiqin directed twice in the rented cold storage, and the other two times he directly received, sorted, and distributed frozen goods at the Bachi Gate smuggling wharf, and directed the loading of trucks. The wharf was a non-customs wharf, far from customs supervision, and the receiving location was extremely hidden;
(2) Yang Daiqin received and sorted goods at the Bachi Gate Wharf twice in the middle of the night, and the receiving time was extremely secretive;
(3) When Yang Daiqin received and sorted goods at the Bachi Gate Wharf, the large lights on the wharf and the smuggling ship were not turned on, only the small lights on the ship were turned on, and the unloading was carried out in the dark, and the operation was extremely quiet, and the receiving process was extremely secretive;
(4) When Yang Daiqin received and sorted smuggled frozen goods at the Bachi Gate Wharf, the hull of the refrigerated ship docked at the wharf and loaded with smuggled frozen goods was written in foreign languages, the crew were foreign crew members, and the outer packaging of the frozen goods had English markings indicating that they originated from the United States, and the frozen goods received did not have legal documents;
(5) Yang Daiqin worked at the Guangzhou Futai Trading Co., Ltd. involved in the case before 2006. The main business of Futai Company was the import and export trade of frozen goods, and Yang Daiqin’s job at Futai Company was to receive and send frozen goods, with at least 6 years of experience in the import and export trade of frozen goods.
Therefore, Yang Daiqin’s behavior fully complies with the definition of “knowing” the subjective intention to smuggle in the Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Smuggling Criminal Cases issued in 2002. According to the Opinions, “without the consent of the customs, transporting (transshipping), purchasing or selling goods and articles that illegally enter or leave the country at non-customs wharves, sea (river) banks, and land borders” can be determined as “knowing”.
In addition, according to the case file records, Yang Guoqin, who received smuggled frozen goods in the cold storage in this case, identified Xie Min as the one who assigned Yang Daiqin to load and transfer the frozen goods. At the same time, Xie Min is also Wang Shizeng’s subordinate. During the unloading at the wharf, Xie Min also assigned Yang Guoqin and others to receive and ship frozen goods at 4 cold storage facilities.
Therefore, Xie Min’s importance in this case is second only to Wang Shizeng.
03 The prosecutor said that it would be handled according to law
When will Xie Min and Yang Daiqin be brought to justice?
However, even with all this evidence, Yang Daiqin and Xie Min, who are so important in this case, were released on bail on the same day they surrendered to the Ningde Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau.
Since then, the Ningde Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau, as the investigating agency in this case, has not conducted any further investigation into Xie and Yang, and has suppressed the case without investigation for more than twelve years.
In addition to Wang Shizeng, who was not prosecuted before, while Wang Xuelan was sentenced as the main culprit, the real cargo owners Wang Shizeng, Xie Min, and Yang Daiqin all “mysteriously disappeared” and went unpunished.
Picture: Small room at Bachi Gate Wharf, where Yang Daiqin first stored frozen goods
Before the Spring Festival in 2025, the agent called the prosecutor in charge, and the prosecutor said that the court had decided to re-examine Wang Xuelan’s request for investigation supervision.
After the Spring Festival in 2025, Wang Xuelan and his agent rushed to the Bachi Gate Wharf in Fuding, the scene of the crime, to conduct a site inspection and take photos for evidence. Then, they went to the Ningde Municipal People’s Procuratorate again, and Wang Xuelan submitted new materials such as the scene photos of Bachi Gate to the prosecutor, and detailed the involvement of Xie Min and Yang Daiqin at that time.
The prosecutor said that he had understood the relevant case, and the procuratorate would handle it fairly according to law.
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