A woman got caught allegedly trying to smuggle 102 iPhones into China by strapping them to her body
A woman was arrested on July 11 by customs officials in Shenzhen, China for allegedly strapping 40 pounds of iPhones and luxury Tissot watches to her body and trying to smuggle them into the country, according to Chinese news site XMNN.
The woman was allegedly carrying 102 iPhones and 15 Tissot watches, which she was trying to smuggle in from Hong Kong, according to the report. Apparently, it's the largest number of iPhones that Shenzhen customs officials have found on a smuggler's body. Customs officials normally intercept smugglers carrying "up to 70 or 80" iPhones, according to XMNN (as translated by Google Translate).
iPhones are priced higher in mainland China than they are in Hong Kong, so they can be sold for a profit when transported from one to the other.
The alleged smuggler had four layers of iPhones wrapped around her body, according to XMNN. She caught the attention of customs officials because she seemed to be wearing more clothing than was appropriate for the hot weather, according to the report. Also, customs officials said her torso seemed out of proportion with her "relatively" slim arms and legs.
To confirm their suspicions, customs officials put her through a metal detector, which indicated that she "should have a lot of metal objects" on her.
The phones the woman was smuggling appear to be either Apple's iPhone 6 or iPhone 6s, not the iPhone 7, which is the latest model. The iPhone 7 would probably fetch a higher profit-per-weight than older versions.
