A WOMAN has recently been caught smuggling 64 iPhones when crossing the border into Shenzhen at Luohu Checkpoint, Luohu Customs said Thursday.

    The woman, who was not identified by the customs, attached the handsets to her body and used her 7-year-old daughter as cover to cross the border Nov. 19. She caught the attention of customs officials at the Luohu Checkpoint due to her strange gate.

    “My first impression of her was that she was an ordinary mother who was wearing a loose outfit and carrying a handbag with no other luggage, but the way she was walking seemed like she was carrying heavy stuff on her,” said one of the customs officials at Luohu Checkpoint. The officials asked the woman to go through a metal detector. The alarm sounded loudly, suggesting that a large amount of metal was detected on the woman.

    Upon further inspection, dozens of iPhones were found taped to the woman’s various body parts.

    “There were eight phones under her armpits inside her tight under-clothes; two were found around her breasts and 32 iPhones were attached around her waist by a corset,” said a customs official. “The woman even put a box inside the tight boxers she was wearing and hid 22 iPhones inside the box.”

    A total of 64 iPhones were found on her body, which made her walking to seem odd. The woman is now under investigation for smuggling.

    According to Luohu Customs, some phones were apparently used devices that were possibly being smuggled to Shenzhen for renovation. Some of the so-called Hong Kong-version iPhones were in fact old handsets that had been renovated in Shenzhen and resold in Hong Kong at higher prices.

    Customs reminds that mobile phones purchased overseas are one of the 20 dutiable goods that require paying a tax. Residents carrying mobile phones that were bought overseas should declare them to customs and pay the required tax according to the tax law. (Zhang Qian)