While some smuggle drugs and other exotic animals, a woman in China agreed to be a mule for processors. According to a Mydrivers report (opens in new tab), Chinese customs authorities detained a woman who tried to smuggle 202 Intel processors and nine iPhones strapped inside her prosthetic belly.
The event occurred at the Gongbei Port in Zhuhai, where a supposed pregnant woman attempted to return to mainland China from Macau. The perpetrator claimed she was five months pregnant; however, her belly was huge for the alleged gestation time, and she was walking effortlessly, which caused a lot of suspicions. After careful inspection, the customs agents later discovered that she had used duct tape to fix and hide smuggled goods beneath the fake silicone belly. Either way, she wouldn’t have gotten away with it since it’s unlikely she could get past the X-ray image analysis or a metal detector.
The authorities seized 202 Intel processors, and judging by the photograph; they appear to be Intel’s 12th Generation Alder Lake chips, which are still among the best CPUs for gaming. The spoils also included nine iPhones. It’s not the first time we’ve seen reports of Chinese hardware smugglers. In March, a man attempted to sneak past customs with 160 Intel processors taped to his body. Last year, Chinese customs busted a shady fishing boat trying to slip 300 graphics cards into mainland China.
Funnily, almost every report from the last couple of years involved criminals trying to smuggle Intel processors. We can’t remember the last time we heard of an incident where someone smuggled AMD chips. But given Intel’s client market share and latest products, you can’t deny that an Intel processor is the more attractive item to chip mules.