China busts smugglers of iPhone 6 in Shanghai

BEIJING — China in recent days has busted a slew of smugglers bringing Apple iPhone 6 models into the country ahead of their official release here. State media on Sunday announced the latest seizure of 453 smartphones in Shanghai.

The official Xinhua News Agency says hundreds more were seized during three separate busts Thursday through Saturday in Hong Kong, including from men with a speedboat who were loading contraband onto a wooden sampan-style boat in a mangrove.

Xinhua says the latest seizure was from the luggage of two passengers arriving at the Shanghai airport from Tokyo, one of them Chinese and one of them Japanese.

Nearly 700 more of the phones have been confiscated individually from passengers who did not declare them.