A middle-aged Hong Kong woman was caught at Futian Checkpoint carrying undeclared iPhones to cross the border Monday afternoon, the Shenzhen Evening News reported.

The woman was spotted carrying a backpack and a shopping bag in her hand when crossing the border at the inspection building of Futian Checkpoint. Although she maintained a fast pace in the crowd, customs officers chose to open her belongings for an inspection.

When asked to open her backpack and shopping bag, the woman complained and said that she had only bought several bottles of shampoo in Hong Kong. However, when the three shampoo bottles were taken out of the shopping bag, the customs officers found that there was transparent tape attached to the bottom of the bottles.

The officers then found that all the bottles had been cut open at the bottom and sealed with the tape. Inside the bottles were 19 new red iPhones. The Hong Kong woman was attempting to deliver the iPhones across the border without making a declaration or paying the tax, the customs officers said.

It was later confirmed that the woman had a previous record of carrying phones across the border without declaring.

Another two smuggling cases involving products packaged with daily necessities were caught at the same checkpoint in the two hours after the Hong Kong woman was caught red-handed.

A Chinese mainland visitor hid 2 kilograms of edible bird’s nests (four boxes) inside a packaged pillow and the other smuggler was caught carrying 1 kilogram of amber, 1 kilogram of sea cucumber and 130 mobile displays inside sealed boxes of wine and tea.

Initial investigations found that all of the visitors violating the border-crossing rules had previous records. They earned commissions by carrying goods across the border. The three violators have been sent to the anti-smuggling office of Futian Customs for further investigation and punishment.