A smuggler in China recently tried to transport 596 CPUs by stashing them in secret compartments inside a car.Hong Kong customs managed to nab the 51-year-old smuggler despite the covert effort to hide the $1.5 million worth of CPUs (or $12 million in Hong Kong dollars). The car was stopped while heading outbound to mainland China at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point.Local customs officials suspected something was off when X-ray scanners imaged the vehicle’s trunk and found some irregularities. “The batch of suspected smuggled CPUs were found concealed inside the false compartments of both sides of the rear and the trunk of the vehicle,” Hong Kong customs wrote in a blog post.
(HKSAR)
Officials have also posted photos of the smuggled CPUs, which show packs of them wrapped in plastic and tucked next to internal parts inside the car. Although Hong Kong customs didn’t identify the chips, they appear to be older server-grade Intel Xeon processors, based on the chip design. The $1.5 million total estimated value suggests each processor is worth about $2,579. Officials have since arrested the 51-year-old smuggler, who now faces an up to HK$2 million penalty and imprisonment of seven years.
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The arrest occurs as smugglers in China have consistently come up with creative ways to move valuable electronics. This has included taping dozens of PC chips or iPhones to their bodies and shipping GPUs with live lobsters. Local customs say the difference in taxes and duties between mainland China and Hong Kong have long been fueling the smuggling of electronics and other goods across the border.
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