Silver bars in wheelchairs, baby stroller seized at border

Three Hong Kong travelers and a mainlander were arrested separately after they were found trying to smuggle 13 silver bars valued at 830,000 yuan (US$125,000) by using wheelchairs and a baby stroller at the Futian immigration and customs checkpoint in Shenzhen, Shenzhen Evening News reports.

At around 7 p.m. on Monday, an electric wheelchair-bound Hong Kong resident was stopped by customs officers during a spot check. The suspect was going to the mainland.

His wheelchair yielded three silver bricks with a combined weight of 44.5 kilograms wrapped with yellow plastic tape inside the battery compartment.

Within an hour, customs officials also stopped two other mainland-bound Hong Kong travelers in electric wheelchairs, and discovered eight silver bars with a combined weight of 122.5 kg inside their wheelchairs.

Separately, a mainlander coming to Hong Kong was found to have hidden two silver bars weighing 31 kg in a baby stroller.

The 13 silver bricks were all labeled “Ag9999” and weighed a total of 198 kg.

Under mainland regulations, precious metals such as gold and silver cannot be imported or exported without a license.

Translation by Chloe Chow

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