FEATURE: iPhone Smuggling

A man crossing the Hong Kong-China border with 146 iPhones strapped around his belly was apprehended by Shenzhen officials before he even got a good core workout. The 47-pound bundle, confiscated on March 6, was reportedly the biggest iHaul ever found on a single smuggler. When his homemade belt set off the metal detector at border security, officials told CNN that the man assured them he was wearing metal accessories, “but we didn’t believe him.”

Whether or not the man will face charges is unknown. But he is far from the first to concoct such a scheme: China is home to a widespread “gray market” of clandestine iPhones, which are hocked to tech-thirsty urban tastemakers.