Lai Changxing, the main suspect in the huge Xiamen smuggling operation, has been transferred to Xiamen City People's Procuratorate in East China's Fujian province for prosecution, according to a statement released by the local customs anti-smuggling agency and the prosecutor's office on Friday.

Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing listens to questions from reporters in Vancouver, British Columbia, in this April 5, 2007 file picture. [Photo/Agencies]

Lai, 53, from Fujian province, is accused of running a multibillion-dollar smuggling operation around the 1990s and paying bribes while he was chairman of the Yuanhua Group in Xiamen, Fujian.

After the case emerged, he fled to Canada. Chinese judicial authorities worked for 12 years to have him returned.

In July, the federal court in Canada finally turned down Lai's appeal to suspend the repatriation order, and ordered him extradited to China.

According to the Xiamen Customs Anti-smuggling Bureau, Lai was immediately detained when he arrived in China on July 23.

Lai and other suspects in the smuggling ring have confessed during the investigation, according to the statement.

China Daily - Xinhua