A cle ver move discovered by a customs officer ' s X - ray
According to a statement issued by Shen zhen Cust oms on July 9, 202 3, an incident of tour ists ent ering the country from the port of F uku da attemp ting to sm ug gle lux ury wat ches has been revealed . The incident was trig ger ed by the disc overy of an empty watch box during an X - ray examin ation of the lug gage carried out by customs offic ers .
After a detailed inspe ction , it was confirmed that this empty watch box was the genu ine product of the Swiss super - lux ury watch brand " P ate ch Philippe . " The market price is estim ated to be approximately 2. 75 million yuan (abo ut 55 million yen in Japanese yen).
i can wear it on my arm and try to get through customs .
A follow - up investigation by customs officials revealed the fact that the tour ist tried to ev ade customs inspe ction by wearing the watch body on his w rist and putting only an empty box in his hand lug gage . The tour ists who attemp ted to sm ug gle were immediately det ain ed and the judicial proceed ings are now under way .
According to the anno unc ement by the Chinese customs authorities , this type of sm ugg ling is considered " inten tion ally avo iding declar ation " and is expected to be prose cut ed under Article 153 of the Cr iminal Code . Local criminal la wy ers point out that " in cases of sm ugg ling such high - val ue goods , there is limited room for circum st anti al discr eti on and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison may be impos ed . "
Back ground : Inc reas ing number of high - end watch sm ugg lers expos ed
In recent years , the Chinese Cust oms have been expos ing one after another the sm ugg ling of lux ury wat ches . This is due to the popular ity of high - end wat ches , main ly among the wealth y in China , and the high tari ffs impos ed on regular imports (abo ut 20% on wat ches).
Cust oms officials war n that " sm ugg ling tac tics are getting more sop his tic ated every year , with cases like this one , where people wear wat ches and put only bo xes in their hand lug gage , and so - cal led ' sm og ging ,' where people are dis pers ed and poss essed by multiple people , " he said .
According to experts , super - lux ury wat ches such as Pat ek Philippe can be more than 1.5 times the regular price in China than over seas , which sugg ests that the price difference caused by sm ugg ling is prov oking crime .
The latest technology in customs inspe ction and alert ing travel ers
In this case , the train ed eyes and X - ray inspe ction techniques of the customs offic ers have worked . Since the latest X - ray equipment can clearly identify the metal parts of the watch , the unn atural ness of sc anning only the case was decisi ve in the disc overy .
As a cau tion to travel ers , customs authorities are calling for " alwa ys to dec lare expensive goods purchas ed ab road and pay the necessary du ties . " In particular , wat ches , jew el ry , and electronic devices are listed as items that are easy to detect declar ation le aks .
In the wake of this incident , China ' s customs authorities have made clear their plans to further strengthen the bag gage inspe ction of imm igrants , and future tr ends will be clos ely monitor ed .