Ministry crackdown dismantles counterfeiting criminal industrial chains

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Public Security on Monday, public security organs nationwide have filed and investigated 520 cases involving the manufacture and sale of shoddy, counterfeit products in key fields such as firefighting equipment, electric bicycles and their accessories, and electrical products.

The ministry's efforts have fully dismantled multiple counterfeiting criminal industrial chains and promptly eliminated numerous public safety hazards.

Working with relevant departments as part of the three-year campaign to address the root causes of work safety issues and the full-chain rectification of firefighting product quality and safety, public security organs have leveraged professional advantages, innovated investigation and crackdown strategies, and focused on professional criminal gangs and cross-regional illegal industrial chains.

They have strengthened big data intelligence applications and optimized joint law enforcement mechanisms with firefighting, market supervision, and emergency management departments through "administrative + criminal" investigation connections — effectively resolving issues like case transfer and inspection identification to form a comprehensive crackdown and governance effect.

Among typical cases released by the ministry, Liaoyang police in Liaoning province uncovered a shoddy fire extinguisher production and sales case in July 2025. Six suspects were arrested, with three counterfeit manufacturing companies and five dens destroyed.

On-site seizures included over 10,000 shoddy fire extinguishers and more than 50 tons of substandard fire-extinguishing agents, worth over 50 million yuan ($7.04 million).

The investigation showed that since January 2021, a firefighting equipment manufacturer had purchased large quantities of substandard fire-extinguishing agents at below-market prices from multiple enterprises in order to produce shoddy fire extinguishers, whose effective components failed to meet national standards. Key suspects have been placed under criminal compulsory measures.