Chink smugglers of iPhones blocked by customs

[Jar Jar Binks]

Stupid chinks worshippers of Ang Moh products.

Customs officers target smugglers of iPhones

China Daily, September 24, 2014

Customs officials in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, have stepped up efforts to block the smuggling of Apple's new iPhones.

Smuggled iPhone 6 cellphones are found in a tea box by customs officers in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

The phones have been on the market in 10 countries and regions since Sept 19 but were excluded from the Chinese mainland.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Shenzhen officials had seized more than 200 iPhone 6 handsets smuggled from Hong Kong. Another 1,600 identified as self-use goods had import duties imposed on them or were returned to Hong Kong, customs data showed.

"We target smugglers who illegally carry the phones from Hong Kong to Shenzhen for profit. Individuals who bought phones for their own use just need to pay the duty and will not be punished," said a press official, surnamed Li, at the Luohu checkpoint.

Apple's iPhones are on a list of 20 items on which duty must be paid. The duty is about 10 percent, Li said.

About half of the new iPhones were caught at the checkpoint, one of the country's busiest land checkpoints.

On Sept 20, customs officials at Luohu saw a man acting suspiciously. He seemed to want to keep his distance from inspectors, who eventually discovered eight iPhones hidden inside his underpants.

Two days later, two men were caught carrying three iPhones inside their underpants in a joint effort by Shenzhen and Hong Kong customs authorities.

"We will remain on high alert, because the smugglers will invent ways to illegally bring in new iPhones," Li said.

At the Huaqiang North Electronic Market in Shenzhen, one of the biggest grey markets for Apple and other electronic products in Guangdong, the cost of a 16 gigabyte iPhone 6 Plus varies from 11,000 to 15,000 yuan ($1,790 to $2,440). The price at an Apple store is about HK$6,390 ($830).

The price for a regular iPhone 6 is lower－about 7,050 yuan－but still above the official price in Hong Kong of HK$5,588.

"The price of an iPhone 6 is down by 2,000 yuan compared with three days ago," one seller said, "So I suggest if you have one and want to sell it, you do so as soon as possible, while you can still earn about 3,000 yuan."

At Zhongguancun in Beijing, one of the largest electronic markets in North China, the iPhone 6 Plus sold at no less than 16,500 yuan on Monday, Beijing Evening News reported.

 

[Jar Jar Binks]

iPhone craze spurs strong grey market

By Jiang Jie Source: Global Times Published: 2014-9-25 0:38:02

Chinese buyers line up around globe, fights break out at US Apple store

As the Chinese mainland awaits the new iPhone 6, customers' frenzy over the new smartphone has already bred a lucrative business for scalpers and smugglers, leading many to question the irrational enthusiasm.

Customs officers in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province have seized more than 1,800 iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models. Among these, 200 were confiscated as illegally smuggled goods, while the remaining 1,600 were taxed or returned, people.com.cn reported .

Apple's new products hit the shelves on September 19 in nine countries and regions including Hong Kong, Japan and the US.

The new models are still awaiting final approval by mainland authorities.

Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, called for public patience on Tuesday, many happy Apple fans in the Chinese mainland have been showing off their new gadgets thanks to the grey market.

People have tried a number of ingenious ways of getting the products to the Chinese mainland.

Customs officers have caught several travelers trying to cross the border with iPhones hidden inside packaging for other products, including tea and toothpaste, media reported.

A man was caught with eight iPhone 6s hidden in three layers of underpants as he tried to pass into the Chinese mainland from Hong Kong on Saturday.

"One of my buyers waited for more than 24 hours at a store in the US. She said most of the people in queue were Chinese, and many were scalpers who would sell their iPhones right to US scalpers," Xiao Bai (pseudonym), a Beijing-based iPhone 6 scalper, told the Global Times.

An online video clip showing a crowd of middle-aged or senior Chinese women waiting in line for the iPhone 6 went viral on Wednesday.

On Monday, two groups of Chinese customers at an Apple store in New Haven, Connecticut even got into a violent conflict over their places in line, with three later arrested, media reported.

Many deplored these scenes, criticizing the vanity that led to such behavior. "While many appreciate the excellent user experience offered by Apple, for another large part of the iPhone user base, the smartphone is just a social status symbol," said Xiao.

"It is such a shame to see the fights abroad but it is a vivid reflection of the mindset of many Chinese: try to make small profits by any means," Xiao said.

For the past several days, the iPhone 6 has been on sale for between 8,000 yuan ($1,303) and 9,000 yuan at Beijing's electronics hub Zhongguancun.

The price will likely drop to around 5,000 yuan by the end of this year, as the new models are expected to be available at mainland Apple stores as early as December, Xiao added.

 

[Jar Jar Binks]

Rotten Apples

Source: IC Published: 2014-9-25 1:03:01

Chinese customs officers display Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones seized from smugglers in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, on Tuesday. Customs officers have confiscated about 2,000 new iPhones since their introduction in Hong Kong. Photo: IC

 

[Flake]

Chinese man caught smuggling eight iPhone 6s across border ... in his underpants

Shenzhen customs have seized more than 1,800 iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Plus

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 24 September, 2014, 1:21pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 24 September, 2014, 5:33pm

Nectar Gan [email protected]

Customs officers display smuggled iPhone 6 sets, which were seized at the customs of a port in Shenzhen. Photo: Reuters

A man was caught with eight iPhone 6 units hidden in his underpants in a vain attempt to smuggle the gadgets across the Hong Kong border into mainland China.

The suspect, surnamed Zhou, was detained by customs officers at the Lo Wu border a day after the Apple gadgets officially launched in Hong Kong, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Wednesday.

Zhou was wearing three layers of underpants, where he placed the phones, when he was caught last Saturday.

He told authorities that he bought the iPhones in Hong Kong and planned to resell them in Shenzhen.

As of noon yesterday, Shenzhen customs authorities said they have seized more than 1,800 iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Plus models at the border with Hong Kong since the phones hit the shelves last Friday.

Of that figure, 200 phone units were confiscated as illegal smuggled goods, while the remaining 1,600 were taxed or returned to Hong Kong.

Within the first three days after the phones launched, Shenzhen authorities confiscated 600 smuggled iPhone 6s.

Authorities in its Huanggang and Futian ports caught 36 travellers hiding hundreds of phones, in total, in their luggage or vehicles, China News Service reported. They also found nearly 1,000 items of packaging and accessories for the iPhone 6 and the larger model iPhone 6 Plus.

Most of those caught were young travellers, some of whom confessed that the phones were bound for sale in an electronics market.

One smuggler hid three iPhones in a box of tea leaves. He was caught after acting suspiciously around X-ray scanners. Photo: Reuters

One 17-year-old traveller, who was dressed like a student, arrived at Futian port carrying a large box of tea leaves on September 19 – the first day that the phones went on sale in Hong Kong – but stirred authorities’ suspicion when he avoided X-ray scanners.

He was pulled aside for a routine inspection, and officers found there were no tea leaves in the box but three brand-new iPhone 6 units, the report said.

On the morning of September 21, a minivan entering Huanggang port was also found hiding six new iPhone 6 units behind the seats, in the arm rest and storage compartment.

That same evening, customs officers also caught four more travellers smuggling the new smartphones, which they concealed within paper boxes of pasta, coffee, cream pies and toothpaste. They piled food on top of the phones to hide them.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launched in Hong Kong and eight other markets last Thursday, but left out mainland China in its rollout. This pushed the black-market price of the gadgets to as high as 15,000 yuan (HK$18,900), according to mainland media.

Officials charge heavy duties of up to 50 per cent on electronics, but self-use items are exempted from the tax.

Additional reporting by Mimi Lau

 

[skcusanihc]

luckily i manage to get one before the raid.