Smuggler Busted with 3,000 Bullets at Shenzhen-HK Border

By Bailey Hu, August 1, 2017

Apparently determined to one-up the guy caught with 1,000 diamonds in his shoes, a Hong Kong woman was recently detained at Luohu Checkpoint for attempting to smuggle close to 3,000 bullets, concealed inside bottles of body wash, into Shenzhen.

She was singled out by customs officials during the early-morning rush hour on July 18, when cross-border workers flood the checkpoint. Seemingly everything about her was suspicious, according to a staff member, from the expression on her face to her unbusinesslike luggage – two plastic shopping bags held in either hand.

The would-be smuggler was stopped and searched. One bag yielded a few articles of clothing, wrapped around "a dozen or so empty bullet cases."

The other bag contained 18 bottles, each filled to the brim with body wash.

Customs officials ran the bottles through an X-ray machine, which revealed clusters of dark objects at the bottom of each one. An official described the visual effect as "very much like bubble milk tea."

After pouring out the liquid and rinsing the evidence, officials discovered 2,915 squeaky clean lead bullets, which they immediately confiscated.

The woman initially claimed to have been lured into the smuggling attempt, and is still under investigation. If found guilty, she could face a minimum of seven years in prison on top of fines or confiscation of her property.

Despite the threat of prison time, the woman is only the latest in a line of cases – over the past seven months, a Luohu customs official stated, staff have intercepted 34 attempts at smuggling weapons or ammunition, both real and fake. Over that time they've seized 64 actual or replica guns, as well as over 10,000 lead and BB bullets.

[Images via SZnews.com]