14 DAY TRIAL // A Chinese man tried to smuggle 94 iPhones into his country where prices for the elusive handsets are among the highest in the world. Photos published on a Chinese social network reveal just how he tried to pull it off, and didn’t succeed.
The person in the photos (gallery below) isn’t identified by name, but that’s of little importance. What matters more is the way he tried to smuggle 94 handsets into the country by strapping them around his waist and thighs, hoping to pass through Futian Port without having the phones detected by customs.
Doing their routine checkups, the agents quickly noticed the guy had a “weird walking posture, joint stiffness, [and] muscle tension,” so they kindly asked him to pass through a metal detector. Needless to point out, he passed the metal test with flying colors, as in he got himself caught.
Roughly $60,000 (€50,000) worth of goods
It’s amazing to think that this stuff actually works even in this day and age. It’s not the first time it’s happened, and it probably won’t be the last time we hear something like this. Perhaps more startling, for some, will be to hear how much money these iPhones are actually worth in China.
According to reports, a new-generation iPhone can sell for as much as $3,000 on the Black Market when supplies are scarce. In stores, the handsets officially sell for $870 (€730) unlocked. This means that this person was carrying anything from $60,000 (€50,000) to $280,000 (€235,000) worth of smartphones on him.
