iPad-smuggling women pinched in China

Chinese customs caught 14 women trying to smuggle iPhones and iPads into China from Hong Kong.

Authorities in Shenzhen caught the grey importers with $143,000 worth of kit.

The 14 women had 88 iPads and 340 phones between them – one woman had an impressive 65 phones strapped to her waist and another 20 in her handbag, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Customs said the women were paid $30 – or 200 yuan – each.

Apple sells Wi-Fi iPads in China, but not the 3G versions, which is fuelling the grey import market from Hong Kong, the paper claimed.

Chinese customs has reacted by putting a tax on all iPads brought into the country – even those for personal use. ®