iPhone smuggling bid foiled
2014.10.03
CUSTOMS and marine police have foiled a bid to smuggle more than 130 iPhone 6 units into the mainland.
Deliveries of the new smartphones began on 19 September in several countries but not in the mainland, where they are said to be changing hands at up to four times their actual value.
It is not clear from where the smugglers got such a large number of the new phones.
Customs officers saw suspicious-looking men loading several boxes of goods onto a speedboat late on the night of 20 September at Wong Shek Public Pier (黃石公眾碼頭) in Sai Kung (西貢).
The suspects fled on a speedboat, leaving 15 boxes containing 138 iPhone 6 units, hard disks and RAMs with a total value of HK$3 million.
Most of the iPhone 6 units seized are of the 16 gigabyte and 64GB models.
A customs spokesman said there have been several similar smuggling attempts previously when high-priced phones were released in Hong Kong but not in the mainland.
It was not immediately known who was behind the smuggling attempt. But, according to a report, an operator at Sin Tat Plaza (先達廣場), Mong Kok (旺角), boasted that he is prepared to send several thousand iPhone 6 units to the mainland.
Seized items are normally auctioned later.
Many Hongkongers are also trying to cash in on the mainland frenzy by selling their new purchases for a nice profit across the border.
Parallel traders were seen collecting iPhone 6 units from sellers at a remote area in Sheung Shui (上水). They are then said to have carried the phones across the border and handed them to agents in Luohu (羅湖), where customs said it has strengthened enforcement at the border. It added that any seized iPhone 6 units will be kept for 365 days, while any person caught selling the phones after an initial warning will be arrested.
A spokesman said since pre-orders were accepted on 19 September, Luohu officers had cracked six cases of smuggling and seized 12 iPhone 6 models.
A large number of shops in Huaqiangbei (華強北 ), Shenzhen (深圳), are offering high prices for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
(The Standard, Qi Luo, 22 September, 2014)
