Shenzhen's clampdown on e-bike hits courier services

A crackdown on the use of unlicensed electric bikes and freight tricycles in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has paralyzed courier services, leaving delivery workers struggling to cope with piles of undelivered packages.

The campaign, launched by the city's traffic police on March 21, has resulted in the seizure of 17,975 electric bikes by March 31, and 874 people were detained on charges of operating them illegally, according to the police's Sina Weibo account.

Only electric bicycles that have been registered with the traffic police are allowed to operate on the roads and freight tricycles have been forbidden in the city.