Smuggler tries to scoot 84 SSDs into China, gets busted

pcgamer.com:

Chinese customs has uncovered someone trying to smuggle SSDs into the country inside an e-scooter. Now I know what you're thinking, there's not much space for anything inside an e-scooter's compact frame, but you'd be wrong. And it's that sort of thinking that the smugglers thought would get them across the border home-free. Alas, it didn't.

Qingmao Customs seized a scooter with 84 M.2 SSDs stored in the upright between the scooter's handlebars and front wheel, in an attempt to bypass Chinese import duty or restrictions at the Zhuhai-Macao Cross-Border Industrial Zone (via WCCFTech(opens in new tab)). The scooter was spotted as it was pushed through an X-ray scanner.

«At about 13:00 on March 3, a mainland passenger pushed an electric scooter to enter the country through the 'non-declaration channel' at the special port of the cross-border industrial zone,» a release(opens in new tab) says. «It passed the electric scooter through the machine for inspection, and the passing machine image showed that there was a massive unknown object on the front bumper of the electric scooter. 

»After dismantling the front bumper, 84 Kingston brand solid-state drives hidden in the axle tube were seized, and the case has been further dealt with in accordance with regulations."

You can actually watch a clip of the would-be smuggler making the attempt to get the SSDs through customs before getting caught red-handed. The SSDs are removed from the scooter right before their eyes.

The drives are manufactured by Kingston, however, it's tough to make out the exact model due to the quality of the images.

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