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Hainan Airlines attendant given 11 years for smuggling
Lu Su-mei and Staff Reporter 2012-09-09 08:56 (GMT+8)



Buying perfume at a duty-free store in Sanya, Hainan province. (File photo/Xinhua)

A former flight attendant for China's Hainan Airlines was sentenced to 11 years in jail for smuggling with a fine of 500,000 yuan (US$79,000) on Sept. 3, reports the CCP newspaper People's Daily.

The newspaper said Li Xiaohang, 30, and her boyfriend, identified only by his family name of Shi, operated a "Stewardess Shop" on the leading online shopping mall Taobao, selling cosmetics.

The couple bought cosmetics at a South Korean duty-free store set up by electronics giant Samsung. Li used the customer account of a former Samsung employee to enjoy special discounts on her purchases. The account was provided to her by a Chinese man surnamed Zhu, who worked at Samsung as an engineer.

Li and Shi brought their purchases into China without passing through customs and sold the goods via her online shop, according to People's Daily. They were accused of avoiding taxes of 1.13 million yuan (US$178,200) in this manner.

Shi and Zhu were sentenced to jail terms of five years and seven years, respectively, in addition to fines of 250,000 yuan (US$39,400) and 350,000 yuan (US$55,200).

The case attracted great attention among China's internet users, since there are more than 100,000 online shops in the country offering to buy goods overseas for their customers. Any of these stores could be breaking the law unknowingly, noted People's Daily.