a smuggler with 96 iPhones strapped to his body
like a hi-tech suit of armour. They took photos of
him, released them on the internet and now the
pics have gone viral.
Chinese customs officers say they pulled the
young man aside when they noticed that his "gait
was weird, with still joints and tense muscles, as if
he was carrying a heavy load," the state-run
newspaper People's Daily reported on Monday.
Although the officials didn't find anything
suspicious in the man's luggage, they made him
walk
through a metal detector, which produced a loud
alarm, iPhone 5, 5S, 6 and 6 Plus models
wrapped in clear plastic and taped to his chest,
abdomen, thighs and calves were then discovered
on him.. The newspaper estimated the devices'
total cost at £32,000. They weighed at least 12kg.
While Apple's iPhone is manufactured in China,
Beijing's taxation policies make the device more
expensive on the mainland than in Hong Kong and
the west.
Customs officials said the man was from Hong
Kong and that he was a "typical smuggler" with a
record of past offences, according to the People's
Daily. The maximum penalty in Hong Kong for
exporting items without properly declaring them
is a £1.3m fine and seven years in prison.
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