Customs officers at the Heung Yuen Wai control point in Hong Kong have seized 160 gems worth $840,000 from a truck driver who was trying to cross into Shenzhen. According to IDEX Online, it is the “biggest diamond seizure for three years at a crossing point into mainland China”.
The gems were stuffed into the driver’s pants pocket, and were found during a routine inspection. Travelers have to pay import taxes of up to 20% when crossing the border. The 33 year-old driver was arrested on the spot, and a suspected accomplice was detained later.
In other smuggling news, a woman flying from Dubai to the Boryspil International Airport in Ukraine was caught smuggling diamonds worth almost $600,000. The diamonds were hidden inside “38 small plastic bags of diamonds, sorted by size”, IDEX Online reports.
