The Chinese embassy in Russia is negotiating with the local government about the return of money and goods that Russian police officers took from Chinese businessmen in a campaign to crack down on smuggled products, China News Service reported today.

Russian law enforcement agencies sent special armed police officers to seal up dozens of booths in the "ACT" container market recently, and ordered booth owners to provide them with documents that prove their goods have undergone legal custom procedures, or their goods would be confiscated.

During the campaign, some police officers confiscated the Chinese businessmen's goods and money, causing a loss of tens of thousands dollars.

The Chinese embassy soon heard about the situation and called for a negotiation with the Russian government, asking it to regulate its law enforcers' behavior.

An official from the embassy went to the scene for further investigation.

The Russian government carried out a series of measures to regulate its economic system, specifically cracking down on "grey imports" and related illegal behaviors, which it began earlier this year.

The Chinese embassy reminded Chinese businessmen in Russia to only take part in legal business procedures to avoid these types of unnecessary losses. (Source:Shanghai Daily)