On April 22, a topic labeled “Nearly Ten Thousand Tons of Corn Missing from a Grain Depot in Hebei Province for 2 Years” has sparked attention on the internet.
The police in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, received a report that nearly ten thousand tons of corn went missing from a grain depot between 2020 and 2022.
After investigation, the police found that the grain merchant colluded with the warehouse keeper, tampering with the grain trucks upon entry, falsifying records, and making false entries. In the later stage, they would “sell a little whenever they needed money,” illicitly taking the grain out of the warehouse to embezzle a large amount of funds.
The grain merchant made over 25 million yuan in profit by selling the grain, while the warehouse keeper received a kickback of 50,000 yuan, and three others received monthly “salaries” ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan. Currently, several suspects are accused of contract fraud and theft and have been transferred to the prosecutor’s office for review and prosecution.
This incident has attracted attention on the internet.
Dr. Liu Yun, a prominent Weibo user, commented, “Self-theft under the guise of supervision has become so common. The deep-rooted corruption in grain depots, often catching fire right before higher-ups inspect, is no coincidence.”
Digital influencer and Weibo user “Techie Red Riding Hood” remarked, “Ten thousand tons of grain vanished over two years, and no one else noticed anything out of the ordinary.”
The author of a headline article and Weibo user “Happy Fat Kid from the 60s” stated, “Punishment must be severe for self-theft under supervision. The key issue lies in the fact that the supervisory department failed to detect this for such a long time and should be held accountable.”
Financial blogger and Weibo user “Wen Lixiong” said, “The self-theft under the guise of supervision was executed skillfully. It took so long for the discovery, highlighting the significant loopholes in management.”
Pang Jiulin, the director of Beijing Chunlin Law Firm and a Weibo user, commented, “To think that ten thousand tons of corn were stolen, how many farmers would it take to produce such an amount? If each truck can carry ten tons, it would require a thousand trucks to transport it all. The case is valued at 25 million yuan; the thief should be sentenced to life imprisonment, and the leadership’s negligence resulting in significant loss of state assets should also be held accountable. All grain depots nationwide should be inspected, there might be more to uncover.”