Fake cigarette chain connected with real cigarette
According to reports, after 2000, the manufacturing base of fake cigarettes gradually moved to Guangdong, with Jieyang and Shantou in eastern Guangdong as the strongholds. Around 2004, with Guangdong's strong attack on the manufacturing of counterfeit cigarettes in eastern Guangdong, the manufacturing base was transferred to the Pearl River Delta. Fake cigarette manufacturing bases are active in Zhongshan, Foshan and other places. At 9 o'clock every morning, people start to work, and all parts of Guangzhou are noisy and restless. However, Wu Xianqiao is an exception. It's quiet in the morning here.
One booth after another closes at around 8 am. From morning to noon, except for a few restaurants and grocery stores, there are not many customers, and Wuxian Bridge is a little quiet. Until 3 pm, these eloquences lifted the shutter door.
As night falls, Wuxian Bridge becomes noisy. Gray vans parked on the roadside started one after another. These vans transport some cartons from Wuxian Bridge to various passenger stations, freight stations, consignment stations and logistics centers in Guangzhou. There are finished fake cigarettes in the carton, but the words "auto parts", "Wuyi tea" and "printer" are printed on its outsourcing. At about 3 am every day, the city of Guangzhou is quiet, but at this time it is the most prosperous time for the trading of Wuxianqiao.
Wuxianqiao is actually a huge distribution center for fake cigarettes. Major tobacconists transport semi-finished products "white strips" (jargon, unpacked but fake cigarettes are formed) from Zengcheng, Shantou and other fake cigarette bases, and then spread to all parts of the country after packaging.
According to the reporter's observation, there are no less than 100 boxes of finished fake cigarettes shipped from here to all parts of the country every night, involving millions of yuan. Later, I became familiar with this place, and many stall owners also confirmed that Wuxianqiao transported at least 100 boxes of fake cigarettes every day.
In almost all villages in Guangzhou, you can see security guards in camouflage uniforms. Strangely, the reporters have lived here for several months and haven't seen them.
When outsiders first come to Wuxian Bridge, they will have questions about these strange stalls. Because every booth is empty, there is a tea set on the coffee table in the middle of the house, with sofas and chairs on both sides. People in the stalls either drink tea or watch TV. Sometimes, several people will meet inside and discuss in a low voice. However, it is difficult for outsiders to understand what they are saying.
It is understood that they are buying and selling fake cigarettes, using dialects in Xiao Yun, Zhao 'an and other places in Fujian. Even at the scene, ordinary people will be blocked by language barriers.
As a buyer, the reporter went to several booths and tried to contact the stall owner to buy cigarettes. However, the other party came over with wary eyes: "We are not in the tobacco business here!" "
Wuxian Bridge is located at the east foot of Baiyun Mountain, and Guanghua Street is located at the west side of the highway, belonging to Yinhe Village. The legend of the name Wu Xianqiao is rarely known now. But many people have a clear judgment in their hearts: the "Feng Shui" of Wuxian Bridge is good. The reasons for supporting this judgment are as follows: First, it is popular. Although it is located in the north of Guangzhou Avenue, it is not prosperous, but the alley is full of bustling passers-by; Second, the housing rent is high. In a similar location in Guangzhou, the monthly rent for a simple single room is only 150 yuan, but the rent for a remote single room here is not lower than that in 300 yuan. It is also a good place to make money. When a poor man comes in, he will generally become rich and have a villa in a few years.
But people who have lived in Wuxianqiao for a long time know that the secret of "Feng Shui" here is all because of the rampant gray cigarette trading market here. After living in Wuxianqiao for two months, the reporter and neighbor Zhang Qiang became familiar with each other. The fake cigarette boss started to be a messenger when he arrived at Wuxianqiao, and then "started his own business". Now he has opened two stalls in Wuxianqiao and two cigarette shops in Dongguan.
"Without introduction, I wouldn't do business with people who speak Mandarin like you." Zhang Qiang, 36, took a sip of the original "Five Leaves God" and took out a black pocket from the corner under the sofa. There are more than 20 samples of fake cigarettes from Bao Butong in my pocket: Zhonghua, Yuxi and Wuyeshen ... all of which are middle and high-grade cigarettes popular in China.
Each box of fake cigarettes is marked with a price. Every five-leaf god in the market 1 10 yuan only needs 20 yuan here; Every Yuxi in 220 yuan is here as long as 30 yuan.
Fake cigarettes are also divided into two categories. Take Yuxi tobacco as an example. Tianxiaxiu cigarettes taste similar to Yuxi cigarettes, and Tianxiaxiu cigarettes are cheap, only a few dollars per pack. Therefore, counterfeiters show off to the world with genuine products, cut off the filter tip of their cigarette butts and add the filter tip marked with Yuxi logo again. There are generally counterfeit Yuxi 30 yuan cigarettes, but the price of each cigarette is usually around 60 yuan. "No matter how senior smokers are, they can't tell the difference between fake cigarettes." Zhang Qiang lamented that fake cigarettes should also pay attention to quality and must be upgraded to keep up with the situation.
"Word of mouth" is a new anti-counterfeiting method that Fujian people "developed" in the last two years.
In Zhang Qiang's view, both fake cigarettes and "mouth to mouth" are no different from real cigarettes. "It's all real cigarettes. We're making a fake version."
At the beginning of March, under the leadership of Zhang Qiang, the reporter visited his packaging factory near Wuxianqiao. This is a dilapidated residential building. Zhang Qiang's factory is located on the third floor. In broad daylight, the windows of the room are closed and covered with thick curtains. As soon as the door opened, a pungent smell of cigarettes came to my face. In this big room of about 100 square meter, five workers are sitting on stools, and the chopping board in front of them is full of glistening cigarettes, which are "white strips". They skillfully put these white strips into the cigarette case by hand and then glued the boxes together. The workers nearby put these cigarettes in the box of 10.
Zhang Qiang revealed that a skilled worker can pack more than 20 pieces a day. In Wuxianqiao, most vendors use manual packaging for the final packaging of fake cigarettes. A worker in charge of packaging can earn 3000 yuan a month. "These helpers are all my fellow villagers, and my present is their future." Zhang Qiang believes that their "mentoring" model is not only safe, but also promotes the development of family economy.
Every tobacco stall in Wuxianqiao has a corresponding "white strip" processing workshop. The workshop is either in a secluded rental house near Wuxianqiao or in the room where Wuxianqiao vendors live. Zhang Qiang introduced that houses with windows closed all day and covered with black cloth are mostly processing workshops, "closing windows for sound insulation".
Accordingly, the materials needed for packaging, such as cigarette case, cigarette case, tin foil paper, plastic wrapping paper, etc. All of them were specially issued by Fujian villagers. In Wuxianqiao, many stalls are open to do these materials distribution business. Packaging "white strips" is only the last step in making fake cigarettes. Zhang Qiang revealed that the fake cigarette manufacturing bases circulating in Wuxianqiao are hidden in secret areas of Shantou, Foshan and Zengcheng.
In the field of counterfeit cigarettes, there is a saying that Fujian is the source and Guangdong is the pulse, which means that Fujian is the source and Guangdong is the lifeline and artery.
Since 2000, the gangs that manufacture and sell fake cigarettes in Xiao Yun, Zhao 'an and other places in Fujian have moved to Guangdong on a large scale. Earlier, they only took Guangdong as the distribution center, and the production and packaging were carried out in Fujian. However, with the increasing sales in Guangdong, counterfeiters have gradually moved their manufacturing workshops to the countryside of Guangdong metropolis, and Guangzhou has also become the hardest hit area for manufacturing counterfeit cigarettes.
According to Director Chen of Guangzhou Cigarette Factory No.2 Office, the process of making fake cigarettes is almost the same as that of regular cigarette factories. The production technology of tobacco leaves mainly includes seven production technologies: primary curing, threshing and redrying, tobacco leaf fermentation, cigarette formula, cigarette shredding, cigarette rolling and cigarette packaging. Among them, the three steps of tobacco primary curing, threshing and redrying and tobacco fermentation are all completed by tobacco producers. Fake cigarette manufacturers began to intervene from the cigarette formula.
A counterfeit cigarette manufacturer named Xiao Yun Cigarette Trading Co., Ltd. publicly sells such cigarettes on the Internet. They are outspoken about their anti-counterfeiting process: "There are 17 years of research and production experience in cigarette tobacco and packaging. In the R&D and production of Xiao Yun cigarettes, our company hired professional senior technicians with high salary to master the formula and production. "
As a buyer, the reporter got in touch with the boss of Cigarette Trading Co., Ltd., who claimed to be surnamed Liu. Boss Liu also revealed the process of upgrading their equipment and products step by step. Before 2004, the automation technology of cigarette manufacturing in this factory only accounted for 30% of the mechanical design, and now it has accounted for more than 90%. Microcomputer design and mechatronics control are widely used, and the ultra-high speed winding unit of Ni Hong Machinery Factory of German Gaobo Co., Ltd. is introduced. Not only did we get rid of the common domestic old equipment and small workshop processing mode in Xiao Yun, but more importantly, we developed more than 50 kinds of special products with the help of this production line equipment and the long-term accumulated experience of "old-timers".
Online sales such as "Xiao Yun Cigarette Trading Co., Ltd." belong to "factory direct sales". Although the stall owner of Wuxianqiao has his own facade and "white strip" packaging workshop, he belongs to the middleman. They just buy "white bars" from manufacturers, transport them to Wuxianqiao for packaging and then sell them. In mid-March, Wuxianqiao, the reporter followed a gray van and arrived at a passenger station express freight center. The van unloaded two cartons marked "Stainless Steel Tableware" and sent them to Dongguan.
The freight center went through the consignment formalities directly without any inspection. On the ground of the counter of the express freight center, there are twenty or thirty boxes of cartons sent to Heyuan, Zhaoqing and Yunfu respectively.
At the request of the reporter, the freight center passed two of the cartons through the security inspection equipment. You can clearly see from the screen that there are neat cigarettes inside.
The reporter stayed at the freight station for about 15 minutes, and four vans arrived for delivery one after another. A taxi driver who once delivered fake cigarettes to the owner of the fake cigarette workshop said that by about 5 am, this warehouse would often be full of hundreds of boxes of fake cigarettes.