Facepalm: When will individuals who smuggle {hardware} into China study that strapping hundreds of {dollars} of elements to your physique typically results in arrest? As soon as once more, the nation’s customs have caught somebody making an attempt the identical previous trick. On this event, a trafficker had 420 M.2 SSDs connected to his torso utilizing tape.
Information of the most recent failed try at {hardware} smuggling in Asia comes from Chinese language information outlet HKEPC (through Tom’s Hardware). It writes that the smuggler was making an attempt to maneuver the SSDs from Macau to Zhuhai by way of the Gongbei Port.
The 420 M.2 SSDs are mentioned to be value round HK$258,000 or $32,984.94. That works out to a mean of $78.53 every, in order that they’re seemingly on the upper finish of the standard scale.
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– HKEPC (@hkepcmedia) July 6, 2023
We have seen quite a few related studies of Chinese language smugglers utilizing their our bodies to sneak {hardware} into the nation, so why break the legislation when individuals get caught so typically? By avoiding the customs duties imposed by China’s authorities, this stuff could be bought on the gray market or reseller websites for a profitable revenue. For all these which are busted, there are seemingly loads of others who handle to sneak by way of, therefore why individuals hold utilizing the identical technique.
Smugglers have been making an attempt imaginative methods of sneaking tech items into China for years. In 2015, a person was caught with a powerful 146 iPhones strapped to his physique. A girl tried the identical factor a few years later, lowering the variety of iPhones to 102.
Taping CPUs to 1’s physique can also be in style. A pair of males tried to smuggle 256 Intel Core i7-10700 and Core i9-10900K processors, then value $123,000, by attaching them to their calves and torsos on the height of the chip shortage in 2021. One other man did the identical factor a yr later, wrapping 160 CPUs and 16 folding telephones to his physique, and it was solely in March when somebody tried this with 239 CPUs.
Not everybody goes for the taping technique. A girl in 2022 tried to enter China with over 200 Intel CPUs hidden in a faux pregnant belly, and a person this yr tried to sneak 84 SSDs previous Chinese language customs by stuffing them inside an electric scooter. Some individuals are simply lazy and easily lie about what’s contained in the crates they’re transporting, like the person who tried to smuggle HK$30 million (about $3.8 million) of electronics by way of Man Kam To Management Level from Hong Kong into mainland China just a few months in the past.