Beijing Police bust fake liquor production gangs

Police in Beijing said Tuesday that they have busted two large fake liquor production and sales gangs and detained 64 suspects.

Police found clues about fake liquor production and sales in July and set up a team to investigate the case. Two gangs producing and selling fake liquor in multiple provinces were discovered.

An operation was conducted in Guizhou, Shanxi and Hubei provinces in August. A total of 51 production, storage and selling dens have been busted. More than 25,000 bottles of counterfeit high-end liquor, as well as packing materials and tools have been seized.

Police said the case involves around 400 million yuan (58 million U.S. dollars).

"Suspects in Shanxi Province were in charge of fake bottles, those in Hubei supplied fake packing boxes and trademarks, and those in Guizhou took charge of the liquor," according to the police, adding that fake liquor would be sold to customers after packaging.

To avoid being discovered, suspects made fake liquor based on consumer demand, instead of producing and then storing huge amounts of the liquor, the police said.