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Raphael Blet

On Monday, Chinese authorities arrested a Hong Kong driver for attempting to smuggle HK$11.9 million (US$1.5 million) worth of gold across the Hong Kong-China border. While not an everyday occurrence, it was far from being the strangest contraband seized by Hong Kong customs officers or their colleagues on the other side, in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. We look back at five unusual items intercepted:

1. Snakes in stockings
Last year, customs officers in Luohu, Shenzhen foiled a man’s attempt to smuggle in four live snakes from Hong Kong. The four endangered reptiles were hidden in stockings. Bringing reptiles into China isn’t illegal. However, import and quarantine certificates are required.

2. Frozen meat from the 1970s
This isn’t fictitious. In 2015, a joint operation between Hong Kong and Chinese authorities intercepted a network, using Hong Kong as a point of transit to smuggle frozen meat to Vietnam with packing labels dating back as far as the 1970s.
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Interviewed by the South China Morning Post three years ago, associate professor of applied biology and chemical technology Leung Ka-sing said that the meat likely contained large amounts of cancer-causing chemicals.

3. Bottles of sperm
In 2016, customs in Lo Wu checked a local man who had two bottles filled with a suspicious liquid. It was quickly found out that the two 100ml bottles on ice contained human semen. The bottles – bound for a “fertility clinic” – were confiscated by customs. Under the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance, such liquid can only be brought into Hong Kong with a valid permit.

4. 102 iPhones taped to woman’s body
Last July, a woman was caught carrying 102 iPhones and 15 Tissot watches, taped around her chest and waist, according to reports from local media. Customs officers from Luohu checkpoint stopped the woman after her upper body was found to be irregularly shaped, wearing clothes that would usually only be worn during winter.

5. 1,000 diamonds hidden in shoes
In 2013, customs officers at Luohu Shenzhen intercepted a man who was tiptoeing suspiciously. He was found to be carrying 1,000 diamonds weighing 212.9 carats. Chinese customs regulations stipulate that gold, silver and other previous materials need to declared.


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Crime in China

The strangest things seized by Hong Kong and Chinese customs: diamonds in his shoes, snakes in stockings and 40-year-old meat

Customs officers caught this woman trying to smuggle 102 iPhones and 15 Tissot watches out of Hong Kong.

=== NO ARCHIVE IMAGE === ATN. IPHONE20. Woman caught carrying 102 sets of iPhones and some watches across custom. UNDATED HANDOUT

A young man has been caught trying to smuggle more than 1,000 diamonds into Shenzhen City from neighboring Hong Kong by hiding them in his shoes. Customs officials in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province, found 212.9 carats of diamonds in the alleged smuggler’s insoles when he passed through Luohu port, which links Hong Kong with inland cities, on March 13. “The man was suspicious as he sometimes tiptoed. When he found that we were looking at him, he quickly shifted to normal walking posture,” said a customs officer surnamed Wang. Customs officers asked the young man to take off his shoes. When they removed his insoles, they found several bags of sparkling diamonds. The man is being investigated. According to customs at Luohu port, diamonds have been found in the socks and snack food packages of other smugglers. A few days earlier, a man tried to sneak 1,554 diamonds weighing 164 carats in packaged snack food. insoles of the man’s shoes. Pls credit : Lo Wu Customs

Sperm

Police and customs officers have foiled a major operation to smuggle frozen meat into the mainland. This followed a raid on three boats. Officers made their biggest seizure ever of smuggled meat - a total of 160,000 kilos worth HK$18-million. They also arrested 15 people. Investigators say the meat was imported into the territory and taken to a container yard in the New Territories for repacking before being shipped out. Marine Police East Division, Sai Kung. 05FEB09

Picture released by Shenzhen police shows a gold bar found in a car. A Hong Kong driver was arrested for trying to smuggle 44kg of gold bars. SCMP Pictures (UNDATED HANDOUT)

HK$2.7 million worth of ivory seized by Hong Kong customs in joint operation with mainland Chinese authorities

Some of the seized ivory. Photo: Handout

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Customs officials on the Hong Kong-China border regularly find everything from drugs to cigarettes to illicit fuel. Sometimes, they come across something different. Here are five weird things smugglers have tried to get through


Customs officials on the Hong Kong-China border regularly find everything from drugs to cigarettes to illicit fuel. Sometimes, they come across something different. Here are five strange things smugglers have tried to get through.


Crime in Hong Kong