Cheaper prices for electronics in Hong Kong make for the top items on many a smuggler’s wish list.
The last year has seen a surge in smuggling activity, powered by the latest must-have items produced by a certain company based in Cupertino, California.
Last month, a woman was stopped by Shenzhen customs and ordered to walk through the body-scanning machine, after officials became suspicious of her rather bulky frame.
After the machine’s alarm rang out, police investigated the woman and found not only 102 iPhones that were strapped to her body, but also 15 Tissot watches, plastered to her chest.
On the very day the iPhone 7 was released in September of last year, multiple smugglers were caught trying to bring the smartphone into China, hidden in their trousers or strapped to their legs, reported the People’s Daily. By the end of the day, customs had seized over 400 phones, at a value estimated at over ¥3 million.
According Elenor Ross from Newsweek, even mainland children who live on the mainland but go to school in Hong Kong have been used to smuggle iPhones across the border, in exchange for ice cream and fast food. Apparently, no children were arrested, but they were given a presumably stern lecture about being exploited by smugglers.
Over the years smugglers have become quite creative with their techniques, which have included none other than fake bellies, extra pockets sewn into clothing and even beer cans. Nevertheless, it remains hard to imagine what runs through the mind of a smuggler who walks through a metal detector with 102 iPhones strapped to their body.
