We have already informed you several times on our website about the smuggling of iPhones from Hong Kong or other countries to China. The price of Apple phones is relatively high in China, and some clever "dealers" are therefore trying to take advantage of this fact and sell their smuggled iPhones from abroad to Chinese customers at lower prices than they would have to pay for sellers in China. There are many ways to bring iPhones into the country. A few days ago, however, a new really interesting method of smuggling was discovered by Chinese customs officials. Drones play a leading role.
You could be interested in
According to Reuters, customs officers have detained 26 suspects who were smuggling iPhones from Hong Kong to mainland China using drones. However, if you think that they simply hooked them onto drones, you are wrong. The smugglers used the drones to stretch the approximately two hundred meter long cables that connected Hong Kong to the mainland and then sent the iPhones along them. They were said to be able to distribute approximately 15 thousand pieces of apple phones in this way per night, which is a really huge number. It is not surprising that this behavior did not escape the authorities after the customs officers flagged it down. According to estimates, they caused around 80 million dollars worth of damage through this smuggling.
The first case of its kind
Interestingly, at the press conference held for this case, it was said that this is the first case where drones have been used for smuggling across borders. However, considering the strict rules for drone owners, this is probably not too surprising. In China, you have to register your drone, which makes you a de facto surveillance authority, which is supposed to discourage you from similar activities.
You could be interested in
We will see how China and other countries deal with similar smuggling news. However, as the popularity of drones continues to grow, customs officials around the world will have an incredibly difficult time.
Source: macrumors
