Chinese police have captured 69 alleged cigarette smugglers who sold 2 billion yuan (260 million U.S. dollars) worth of contraband goods in south China over the past three years, local authorities said Wednesday.

The 20 main suspects of the cigarette ring, which was masterminded by three persons surnamed Lu, Lin and Chen, will be tried at the Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, a spokesman with Shenzhen Customs said.

The cigarette ring smuggled huge volumes of imported and domestic cigarettes into the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong provinces between 2003 and 2006, with a tax evasion of up to 1.3 billion yuan (160 million U.S. dollars), the spokesman said.

One of the ring leaders, Lu, who lives in Jinshang Township of Fujian's Shishi City, first aroused the suspicion of police in 2005, because he seemed very wealthy despite having no job, he said.

A subsequent undercover investigation discovered that Lu and other people were involved in cigarette smuggling, and a special task force was established by the General Administration of Customs to crack the case, he said.

The suspects were seized by police officers from Shenzhen and Xiamen in various Chinese cities -- 31 in Shenzhen, 32 in Xiamen, four in Suzhou of eastern Jiangsu Province, and two in Shantou of Guangdong, on the evening of Jan. 12, 2006 when they were preparing to hold a melon-cutting celebration, the spokesman said.

Source: Xinhua