A Hong Kong based citizen was caught smuggling iphones to China and apprehended at the Chinese Border.
The man had 94 iphones of which 6 were strapped to his body including his thighs and torso with the help of plastic bags and masking tapes.
The smuggler made the official suspicious and caught their attention by his “weird walking posture, joint stiffness, and muscle tension,” according to a report which was the result of the armour made of 94 iphones according to the Police.
The smuggled phones were confiscated are still held by the custom officials.
The iphones 6 was released in China on October 2014 a month after it was released in other countries with 9.5 million pre ordered. The reason for the delay was because of the Key Network Access License delay by the regulator who had security concerns.
The Chinese government believes that the sensitive information stored on an iphone could be accessed via servers and leaked.
Even after the latest iphone models were available in the Chinese market, smuggling of the did not stop from Japan, USA and other countries as these and other electronics are more expensive in China compared to its neighboring countries. The phone 6 16 GB is selling for the equivalent of US $867 in China, compared to Hong Kong in which is costs US $726. The iphones 6 128 GB costs around US $ 1,277 in China.
Smuggling helps increase the profit margins as it makes it possible to evade the import taxes and is common for electronics gadgets such as handsets, tablet computers and game consoles.
These smuggled goods are then distributed through the grey market where the sales are sometimes more than that of the regular market.
