(ECNS) -- A retailer selling overseas products illegally smuggled into China has been sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined 550,000 yuan ($88,770).
The man, surnamed Yang, owned a shop in Ningbo city, east China's Zhejiang province, from which he mostly sold foreign luxury bags and suitcases via agents who purchased products overseas and brought them back into the country.
These products were either mailed or personally brought back to China without proper declaration or taxation at a customs office.
One of Yang's "agents", surnamed Huang, was caught at Ningbo Airport with five undeclared Prada bags on May 21, 2013. Officials also searched Yang's store on the same day and confiscated three smuggled bags.
Authorities discovered that he had smuggled 290 products into China from August 2011 to May 2013. Their total price plus tax amounted to 1.2 million yuan, with Yang having evaded 350,000 yuan in tax.
In February 2015, his case was brought to court, where he was found guilty of smuggling. Besides paying a fine and prison time, Yang also had to repay the 350,000 yuan in evaded taxes.
