CPU, memory smugglers nabbed due to unexpected fog

FOUR BRAZILIANS flying from Miami to Argentina decided to take with them too many electronic gadgets for their holiday, as they tried to smuggle between $800,000 and $1 million worth of CPUs, memory, thumb drives and other electronic kit into Argentina, all inside their very heavy luggage.

The media reports different values for the merchandise, with the range being between $800,000 and $1 million - surely nothing will be lost along the way during transportation, as happens with drug confiscations. But what sets this news story apart is the likely cause of the discovery: the plane, with the route Miami-Buenos Aires, was diverted due to heavy fog in Argentina's capital city to Cordoba, about 800 Km (500 miles) north west.

Argentina's customs service said yesterday that after Flight LA4521 of Chilean LAN airlines arrived at Cordoba, the luggage passed through the routine X-Ray verification, and that's when the operators noticed something strange.

After opening the suspect luggage, registered to the name of four Brazilian "tourists", they found six thousand RAM DIMMs, 2,300 processors (brand not specified), 780 thumb drives, 47 laptop hard drives, 11 flash memory cards, and five digicams.

The airline promised to investigate, as the weight of the passengers' luggage exceeded the maximum allowed. The customs office values the merchandise, contained in ten suitcases and "several handbags" -pictured here at one million dollars. Surely the accomplices of the smugglers awaiting the shipment - and willing to let it pass without verification or tax - must have been very worried when they realised the plane and the passengers never showed up there.

The burden is now on the four Brazilians - whose names have not been disclosed, who have been detained and their merchandise confiscated. They continue claiming they were only tourists, heading towards Brazil.

Argentina's customs service said they have proof that the smugglers had return tickets from Buenos Aires back to the U.S. dated a week after their arrival. The real question, however, is how can four "tourists" get on a plane at MIA with ten suitcases and several handbags containing $1M in electronic equipment and exceeding the maximum allowed luggage weight all without any hassle. Surely some mistake.µ

L'INQ
How big is a million dollar bag?