Facepalm: For the fourth time in three weeks, somebody has been caught attempting to smuggle electronics into China to use sizable worth variations and keep away from import taxes. The most recent case is Hong Kong’s greatest bust in 5 years, however the perpetrator’s method was far much less imaginative than prior reported makes an attempt.
This week, Hong Kong authorities reported having caught the most important try and smuggle digital {hardware} into China since 2018. The announcement comes only some days after three different unsuccessful makes an attempt to sneak chips into the nation from Macau.
A 61-year-old truck driver tried to smuggle HK$30 million (about USD $3.8 million) of electronics by means of Man Kam To Management Level from Hong Kong into mainland China. Makes an attempt to slide gadgets like CPUs or smartphones previous Chinese language customs to dodge duties have change into widespread during the last a number of years as a result of they’re dearer in mainland China than in lots of different international locations. The incidents primarily happen at checkpoints bordering Hong Kong and Macau resulting from financial variations between these two territories and the mainland.
Customs officers at a Macao checkpoint foiled three separate makes an attempt in March. The latest concerned a person who strapped 239 Intel CPUs to his physique. Just a few days earlier, somebody there tried to cover 84 SSDs in his motor scooter’s hole steering rod. In mid-March, one other individual tried to smuggle 160 processors by taping them to himself.
Hiding contraband beneath garments appears to be a well-liked technique. In 2017, a girl in Shenzhen (seemingly coming from Hong Kong) unsuccessfully tried the method with 102 iPhones. One other Hong Kong incident in 2021 concerned the strategy with 256 CPUs, value $123,000. Final 12 months, a girl touring from Macau tried to make use of a pretend pregnant stomach to cover 202 Intel processors and some iPhones.
Conversely, the most recent Hong Kong incident did not contain any fancy schemes, which seemingly do not work anyway. Though, it is unclear what number of smugglers efficiently evade detection for every one the authorities catch. In any case, the frequency of stories signifies it is a worthwhile enterprise.
In any case, the quantity of {hardware} the Hong Kong truck driver tried to usher in was far an excessive amount of to strap to his physique – so he simply packed it into crates and lied about what was in them. The driving force had round 30 picket packing containers labeled as digital screens, which seemingly incur lighter import taxes. Nonetheless, an X-ray scan revealed the crates contained virtually 510,000 items of drugs, together with CPUs, storage drives, laptops, and smartphones.
Though the smuggler was arrested, he is already out on bail pending an investigation. The utmost penalty for the crime is a HK$2 million (about USD 254,000) high quality and 7 years imprisonment.