TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Over 240,000 bottles of e-liquid containing nicotine and nine barrels of semi-finished product with a market value of over NT$7 million (US$226,908) were confiscated earlier this year, police said on Tuesday (June 20).

Police said the illegal product was discovered at stores in Kaohsiung and Tainan, and that it had been imported from China, per UDN. Legislative amendments passed in March made the sale of electronic cigarettes (vapes) and heated tobacco products illegal in Taiwan, and introduced fines of up to NT$10,000 for users and NT$50 million for importers, manufacturers, and sellers.

Police investigations found the product was being sold through both stores and LINE groups, but only to customers who had previously bought the e-liquid. A 27-year-old man surnamed Tseng (曾) was found to have been operating a vape business with Chinese imported products for at least two years that had a monthly turnover of about NT$2 million.

Despite the confiscations, a regular consumer of vaping products told Taiwan News that buying the products is still easy to do via LINE groups. The source confirmed that sellers would only sell to repeat customers, and said that payment can be made via cash on collection at the convenience store the product is sent to.

The global market for e-cigarettes has an estimated value of US$8.28 billion, and as the debates over the merit of vaping as a smoking cessation aid rage on, over 40 countries have banned them. According to John Hopkins Medicine, while vaping is less harmful than smoking tobacco, it is still not safe, and it is not the most effective aid to quit smoking.

The U.K. health services have cautiously embraced vaping as an aid to quit smoking, though recent studies have challenged this approach.