Zhuhai’s Gongbei customs said in a statement yesterday that a woman attempted to smuggle 121 smartphones from Macau to the mainland last week by hiding them inside her electric wheelchair’s battery that had been modified.
According to the statement, the woman was on her way through the “nothing to declare channel” in her electric wheelchair at around 6 p.m. last Thursday when she was travelling from Macau to Zhuhai via the Gongbei checkpoint. Customs officers intercepted the woman after noticing that her wheelchair was moving at an “abnormal” speed, the statement said.
The statement did not identify the woman’s age and nationality.
The Gongbei customs officers found that the wheelchair and its battery had been modified. They weighed the battery, and found that it weighed 23.6 kilogrammes, an “abnormal” weight for a wheelchair battery, the statement said.
After dismantling the battery, the customs officers found a total of 121 smartphones inside, the statement said.
The statement underlined that carrying dutiable goods entering or leaving the mainland by evading customs inspection is regarded as smuggling.
This handout photo taken last week and released by the Gongbei customs yesterday shows the smartphones inside the modified wheelchair battery.
This handout photo released by the Gongbei customs yesterday shows the battery on a weighing scale.
