Online retailer held on smuggling charges

The founder of an online luxury retailer has been arrested after being charged with smuggling 438 million yuan (RM281.72 million) worth of goods into the country, the official China Daily reported yesterday, citing the Customs authority. Xiu.com founder Ji Wenhong was captured in Indonesia and returned to China, where he would face trial, said the newspaper. Ji is accused of being the head of a smuggling operation in which luxury clothing items purchased in Europe and the United States were carried into China via Hong Kong and made to look like personal possessions in order to avoid duties.