A woman from Hong Kong had been caught smuggling about HK$2.2 million (US$283,100), of which HK$1.9 million was stuffed in taros, customs officials announced Friday.

The seizure was the largest currency smuggling case detected at Luohu Checkpoint this year, Shenzhen and Hong Kong newspapers reported.

The 60-year-old women, identified as a housewife surnamed Chan, was crossing the border into Hong Kong at 11:45 p.m. Thursday, 15 minutes before the checkpoint closed, when she was asked to open her trolley bag and handbag, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily and South China Morning Post reported.

An X-ray found an undeclared HK$12,500 in her handbag. When customs officers further questioned the woman, she became nervous and raised suspicions.

A closer look at the X-ray found seven taros that looker suspicious. Officers cut open the taros to find HK$1.9 million in rolls of banknotes. The officers then found 18 rolls of banknotes amounting to HK$275,000 in the aluminum handle of the women’s luggage bag. She said the money was hers and had been kept on the mainland for some time.

The woman admitted hiding the banknotes to avoid surveillance and theft. She said she was to use the money to pay the medical expenses for her sick husband. However, customs officers rejected her explanation and sent her to the anti-smuggling division for further investigation.

An outbound traveler is allowed to carry no more than HK$8,000 from the mainland.

(Shenzhen Daily July 25, 2005)