Vietnam seizes Apple gadgets smuggled from US, gold from Thailand

Customs officers in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday said they had just seized the largest postal package of iPhones and iPads smuggled from the U.S.

The shipment included 144 smartphones and tablets, most of them new and of the latest versions.

It was labeled as non-commercial package and declared to contain computer mouses and keyboards, the officers said, as cited by local media.

The recipient has been identified as a resident in District 1 in the city downtown.

Also on Friday, more than 20 kilograms of what was suspected as gold from a Bangkok flight was seized at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi.

Customs officers at the international airport said five Vietnamese passengers were hiding the jewelries around their torso and legs. The city police also helped with the bust at nearly 8 p.m..

The passengers are being held for investigation.

Vietnamese laws ban outbound and inbound travelers from carrying gold bars, while foreigners bringing in gold bars have to deposit them with customs and can only take them back at departure.

In March, a Vietnamese court sentenced a former Cambodian border security officer to six years in jail after convicting him of smuggling 18 kilograms of gold bars into Vietnam.

A former Vietnamese flight attendant and an aircraft technician were charged that same month for smuggling gold from Vietnam to South Korea.