HK man caught smuggling gold bars in sneakers

Customs officers in Luohu district, Shenzhen, retrieve gold bars hidden inside a man's sneakers as he attempted to smuggle them into the Chinese mainland on January 6. Photo: cnr.cn

A Hong Kong man was caught attempting to smuggle four kilograms of gold bars into the Chinese mainland stuffed in his shoes on January 6.

Luohu district customs officers in Shenzhen, just across Hong Kong's border, stopped the man surnamed Hsu after noticing his nervous behavior and labored gait.

Though Hsu had only declared two cans of milk powder as he attempted to cross the land border, agents discovered four 1-kilogram gold bars worth more than 1 million yuan ($165,400) wrapped in newspaper under his insoles.

This is the first smuggling attempt valued at 1 million yuan stopped by Luohu customs this year. The case has been transferred to the local anti-smuggling department for further investigation.