Smuggler busted heading for China with dodgy GPUs … and reside lobsters

Hong Kong authorities have caught a pair of smugglers who tried to shift a vanload of reside lobsters, together with some decrepit GPUs, into China.

The loot was intercepted final week because the car moved to enter the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge – a 55km assortment of roads (some on synthetic islands!), bridges, and tunnels across the Pearl River Delta.

Hong Kong Customs discovered about 280 kilograms of reside lobsters and 70 “high-value laptop show playing cards” – however no paperwork. The products had been valued at round HK$600,000 ($76,500).

A picture of the “show playing cards” posted by Hong Kong authorities reveals a table-load of playing cards that sport a pair of HDMI slots and a single DVI connector. We fancy the Nvidia emblem is seen, as is the title “Quadro” and that the items resemble the K2200 (PDF).

Which is a really odd factor to smuggle. Nvidia launched these gadgets within the mid-2010s they usually can now be had for about $160 apiece.

In different phrases, not a GPU that players or cryptominers will rush to purchase, nor that Chinese language authorities will welcome as a sanction-busting success story that can guarantee native AI efforts thrive.

The mixture of seafood and silicon can be incongruous – until the cargo was destined for an outré restaurant at which seafood is grilled atop classic GPUs.

Sure, The Register will likely be demanding a slice of the motion from whichever chef picks up on that concept.

Hong Kong authorities have vowed to unravel this fishy enterprise – which is simply what they mentioned when The Register noticed them busting a chap who taped tons of of Intel CPUs to his legs and tried to get to China from Macau.

The assertion saying this bust would not point out whether or not Macau or the mainland metropolis of Zhuhai was the supposed vacation spot for this cargo. The Register fancies it was the mainland, as Macau is a tiny territory with few patrons.

Regardless of the particulars of this caper, it highlights cross-border shenanigans within the Pearl River Delta, and reminds us that US export sanctions have given rise to “evasion routes” used to maneuver forbidden tech throughout borders.

US authorities have vowed to crack down on such visitors. ®