Recently, the Anning Branch of Lanzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau in Gansu Province cracked a major case of producing and selling toxic and harmful food. It broke down a criminal gang involving 28 provinces and cities across the country with corporate and hierarchical operations, arrested 36 suspect, closed 22 online stores selling fake online platforms, destroyed 6 criminal dens producing and selling toxic and harmful food, and seized more than 130000 bags of toxic and harmful coffee products that have not yet been sold, involving more than 15 million yuan. In December 2024, the Anning Public Security Bureau received a report from residents in its jurisdiction, stating that after long-term use of an online shopping "slimming coffee", they experienced symptoms such as palpitations and vomiting. After medical treatment, it was found that their body had severely exceeded the limit of sibutramine. After testing by a professional organization, the results showed that the 'slimming coffee' purchased by the reporter online added the toxic and harmful substance sibutramine According to police officer Wang Peng, there are various types of coffee claiming to have weight loss effects in the suspected online store, which are sold nationwide with an average monthly transaction volume of over 50000 yuan. The Anning Public Security Bureau immediately launched an investigation into the case. Through analysis of the reporter's order, the police found that the delivery location was at a courier distribution center in a residential area in Anning District, Lanzhou City. The police quickly targeted the suspect Liu, and set up a crouching position to capture him, seizing a large number of coffee products from his home. According to sampling testing, all 18 coffee products in Liu's home contain the ingredient sibutramine. According to Liu's confession, the police identified several other suspected online stores, and after serial comparison and analysis, it was finally determined that a total of 22 online stores were suspected of selling toxic and harmful coffee products. The sources of coffee products involved in the case not only come from the Lanzhou warehouse managed by Liu, but also from three locations in Huizhou, Guangdong, Guigang, Guangxi, and Nanning, Guangxi, "said the investigating police officer Feng Zhenbin. Each online store owner uploads order information to the" big boss ", and then the" big boss "arranges for four warehouses to ship nearby, with delivery addresses covering 28 provinces and cities across the country. The online store owner regularly receives compensation from the" big boss ". Due to the serious case, Anning Public Security Branch set up a special case team and finally sorted out 33 suspect who played different roles such as "shopkeeper", "customer service" and "warehouse keeper". Through in-depth investigation, the special case team dug out Huo, the common "big boss" of 33 suspect. According to the investigation, since April 2024, suspect Huo, together with friends Wu and Wang, has formed a criminal gang to produce and sell coffee with sibutramine added in the corporate operation mode. The criminal gang has four teams: packaging, logistics, customer service, and money laundering. Huo and three others instructed the packaging team to subcontract and mix bulk coffee and sibutramine, seal the finished products, and transfer them to four warehouses According to police officer Ma Zhiyu of the special task force, Huo and others actually controlled 22 online stores involved in the case for nationwide sales. After the "shop owners" transferred the order information to Huo, they arranged for the "warehouse management" to ship the goods nearby. After making huge profits, they arranged a money laundering team to launder illegal gains through multi-level bank card transfers and suspects' offline withdrawals, and finally collected them under Huo's personal name. Mr. Huo, Mr. Wu and Mr. Wang, three suspect, controlled all links of goods production and packaging, warehousing and logistics distribution, online store promotion and sales, and laundering of stolen money involved in the case. The whole gang has clear hierarchy, clear division of labor, centralized finance, and tight organization, forming a complete chain of illegal interests. On February 14, 2025, Huo, Wu and Wang, three major suspect, were arrested in Jiangsu and were still directing production and remote trading when they were caught. From February 14 to 25, the remaining 33 suspect involved in packaging, logistics, customer service and money laundering were successively arrested. At the same time, the special task force also joined forces with the cyberspace administration and relevant platforms to shut down 22 online stores selling toxic and harmful coffee products, and destroyed 6 criminal dens producing and selling toxic and harmful coffee products. According to Huo, Wu, and Wang, in addition to selling toxic and harmful coffee products on online e-commerce platforms, the three also promoted and publicized through short video platforms and social media, developing up to 120 "offline agents". At present, the case has been supervised by the Public Security Department of Gansu Province, and the arrest of the relevant personnel involved is further underway. (New Society)