A HONG KONG woman was caught using her twin daughters to smuggle 30 new iPhones at Luohu Checkpoint on May 3, according to Luohu customs Monday, Chinese-language media reported.

The woman, who wasn’t identified, was the latest parent caught using cross-border children to smuggle goods into Shenzhen.

Cross-border children are students who commute between Shenzhen and Hong Kong on a daily basis for school. Some people take advantage of their cross-border children and use them as cover to smuggle.

Luohu Customs intercepted a few cases where mothers of cross-border children would put undeclared goods into the children’s schoolbags while they were crossing the checkpoint through special channels.

According to Luohu customs, the twin sisters accompanied by their Hong Kong mother at Luohu Checkpoint looked nervous and their schoolbags seemed heavy.

A customs officer opened the girls’ schoolbags and found 30 new iPhones in the bags.

The mother later admitted that she was paid to deliver the iPhones for other people. The amount was not revealed.

A 6-year-old boy was also used by his mother as a delivery tool at Luohu Checkpoint. The boy was caught carrying 100 CPUs and 34 phone accessories inside his schoolbag at Luohu Checkpoint.

Luohu Customs officers said that the illegal actions of parents would have extremely bad impacts on their young children. Customs pledged to get tougher on smugglers who use the cover of cross-border children.

(Zhang Qian)