A mainland man in his seventies attempted to smuggle 65 smartphones from Macau to the mainland last Thursday by pretending to be a disabled person and hiding the phones inside his electric wheelchair’s battery that had been modified, Zhuhai’s Gongbei customs said in a statement on Monday.
According to the statement, the man was on his way through the “nothing to declare channel” in his electric wheelchair at around 8:40 a.m. last Thursday when he was travelling from Macau to Zhuhai via the Barrier Gate border checkpoint.
Customs officers intercepted the man after noticing that his wheelchair was moving at an “abnormal” speed, the statement said.
The Gongbei customs officers found that the wheelchair and its battery had been modified. After dismantling the battery, the customs officers found a total of 65 smartphones wrapped in plastic, of which 53 were foldable Samsung used phones, and 12 non-foldable used phones, the statement said.
The Gongbei customs officers then imposed an administrative penalty on him, but when he left, he walked away, so officers discovered that he had pretended to be a disabled person in an attempt to cover up his smuggling behaviour, the statement said.
Local man smuggles 132 smartphones in e-wheelchair
Meanwhile, Zhuhai’s Gongbei customs said in a statement yesterday that a man from Macau attempted to smuggle 132 smartphones from Macau to the mainland last Thursday by hiding them inside his electric wheelchair’s battery that had been modified.
The statement did not identify the man’s age.
According to the statement, the man was on his way through the “nothing to declare channel” in his electric wheelchair at around 4 p.m. last Thursday when he was travelling from Macau to Zhuhai via the Qingmao pedestrian border checkpoint.
Customs officers intercepted the man after noticing that his facial expression “did not look natural”, the statement said.
The Gongbei customs officers discovered that the wheelchair and its battery had been modified, and inside the battery box, the customs officers found a total of 132 smartphones, the statement said.
The statement underlined that carrying concealed, disguised, misreported or dutiable goods entering or leaving the mainland by evading customs inspection is regarded as smuggling.
The statement underlined that smuggling behaviour includes concealing, disguising, misreporting, or otherwise evading customs inspection when transporting, carrying, or mailing dutiable goods entering or leaving the mainland, and that serious cases that constitute a crime will be subject to criminal liability in accordance with the law.
This undated handout photo provided by Gongbei Customs yesterday shows 132 confiscated second-hand smart phones and an electric wheelchair that was used by a man from Macau trying to smuggle them across the Macau-Zhuhai Qingmao border checkpoint.
