Recently, Wang Tengfeng, the lead lawyer at Zhiming Law Firm, accepted a case from Hong Kong citizens Ye XX and Zhen XX (hereinafter referred to as "the clients") involving the illegal and prolonged seizure of their vehicle by Shenzhen XX Customs. With just a lawyer's letter, he prompted the customs to release the vehicle, which had been detained for nearly 100 days, without compensation. The story goes like this:

On the evening of September 26, 2011, the client Zhen XX was driving a truck from Hong Kong through the XX port when customs X-ray equipment allegedly detected a "dark shadow" under the vehicle. Staff required Zhen to drive the truck onto the inspection platform and open the rear compartment for inspection. After finding no suspicious items, they detained the truck and its cargo, instructing Zhen to return to customs by 7:00 AM the next day for further inspection. On September 27, after a series of checks, customs issued a "Customs Inspection Record" with the following content:

I. Inspection of goods and transport vehicles: ATA.

II. Other inspection findings:

1. Randomly opened 22 pieces; the inspected goods matched the declaration, and no concealed items were found.

2. Machine inspection raised doubts; upon inspection of the suspected area (junction of gearbox and drive shaft), no undeclared items were found.

Although no illegal acts were detected, the customs still detained the truck, claiming further investigation was needed, but subsequently made no contact with Zhen XX. The vehicle owner, Ye XX, went to customs on October 26 to request the release of the truck but was refused, with customs demanding that Zhen XX hand over suspicious items. Despite Ye XX's repeated requests, the truck was not released.

After accepting the case, Director Attorney Wang Tengfeng assigned Attorney Yang Lirong and trainee attorney Chen Qingxu to handle and implement the case. Upon review, Director Wang concluded that the customs' detention of the vehicle lacked evidence and that acting on subjective suspicion suggested potential illegal enforcement. They then issued a lawyer's letter to customs, stating the case facts and sternly pointing out the facts and consequences of the customs' illegal enforcement.

"According to the legal principle of presumption of innocence, the client has not committed any illegal or criminal acts. However, your customs office's enforcement action of detaining the client's vehicle since September 26, 2011, has neither issued a detention receipt as required by law nor provided a written explanation of the reasons and legal basis for the vehicle detention. Therefore, your customs office's vehicle detention action lacks any factual or legal basis and suggests a suspicion of handling the case based on subjective assumptions! In response, the client strongly demands that your customs office, in accordance with the Customs Law and relevant legal provisions, promptly lift the illegal detention of the client's vehicle to avoid a national compensation lawsuit arising from wrongful detention!"

The day after receiving the letter, the customs office notified the handling lawyer that it agreed to release the detained vehicle. Upon hearing the news, the client was overjoyed and immediately had a silk banner made to present to Director Wang Tengfeng, inscribed with: "Uphold justice, maintain fairness; dedicated and upright, speak out for righteousness; relieve people's worries, a pioneer of the law."