A global chip shortage has made computer processors extremely valuable.
Hong Kong customs officers have seized hundreds of computer processors from a suspected smuggler who strapped the chips to his body with cling film.
Officers caught the man trying to drive 256 high-end CPUs across a bridge that connects Hong Kong with the cities of Zhuhai and Macau Bridge on June 16.
Customs valued the large haul, which consisted of Intel Core i7 10700 and Core i9 10900K processors, at roughly 800,000 yuan (£90,000).
The hidden cargo was discovered during a routine inspection of the passenger truck the man was driving into Hong Kong.
Officers said they decided to look more closely when they noticed the driver was behaving strangely.
With a global chip shortage sending computer component prices soaring, smuggling the tiny parts has become big business.
Just ten days after the attempted cling film heist, officers working at the same bridge found another 52 CPUs stuffed between truck seats in another suspected smuggling case.
They located this second batch of CPUs by scanning the front seats of the vehicle.
And just this week, officers at the Lok Ma Chau Control Point which separates Hong Kong from mainland China seized an enormous haul of allegedly smuggled computer parts valued at nearly £2.9 million.
They found roughly 2,200 CPUs, 1,000 memory chips and 630 smartphones mixed in other electronic items that had been declared in ten cartons inside a container.
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