A worker combs a half-done wig at a wig factory in Xuchang, Central China's Henan Province. Photo: VCG

Kunming customs recently cracked down on a series of hair smuggling cases, with the total value hitting a record high of billions of yuan, local customs said, adding the smuggled hair is from India, Pakistan and Myanmar.

The customs in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, said the case involves 48 suspects and 11 smuggling gangs.

Customs said, since 2017, these criminal gangs have been suspected of smuggling a total of 1,200 tons of hair with a case value of more than 1.1 billion yuan ($168 million). "The sum is a record high," local customs told the Global Times on Friday. 

The customs said the smuggled hair is from India, Pakistan and Myanmar, and the gangs classify this human hair according to its length. The gangs are suspected of ordering the hair in Myanmar, then transferring to Ruili and Tengchong in Yunnan, and finally sending them to provinces such as Shandong and Anhui. 

The price at first hand is 220 yuan for one kilogram of 10-inch hair, which rises to 940 yuan when sold in China, and the price could be higher if the product is made into a wig, according to local customs.  

Due to the price gap between the domestic and foreign markets of human hair's raw materials, the profits for smugglers are huge. 

China is now the world's largest producer and exporter of wigs. The price advantage of China's wig foreign trade makes it popular in the Americas, European and African markets.