A 36-year-old Venezuelan man was arrested in Santiago for receiving and exporting stolen cell phones to Hong Kong, disguising them as vehicle parts. Police seized several devices from his home, and the court ordered preventive detention. The case involves at least 183 phones stolen from cities like Concepción and Viña del Mar.
On Saturday, a man with initials J.C.S.S., a 36-year-old Venezuelan, was formalized in Santiago's 1st Guarantee Court for smuggling and receiving stolen goods. The court accepted the Public Prosecutor's request and ordered preventive detention while the case is investigated.
According to Pudahuel's chief prosecutor, Eduardo Baeza, the defendant received cell phones, mainly Apple brand, stolen from various Chilean cities, including Concepción, Viña del Mar, and several communes in the Metropolitan Region. He then attempted to export them to Hong Kong via FedEx parcels, falsely declaring them as “vehicle parts or pieces” or “Apple spare parts”.
Baeza explained that the Metropolitan Customs detected several shipments: “Of these shipments, some were detected by the Metropolitan Customs, who proceeded with their inspection and determined that there were approximately, in 6 shipments, 183 stolen cell phones with signals from different parts of our country”.
The man was arrested on Friday by OS-9 personnel from Carabineros, who executed a search warrant at his home. There, they found five shipping receipts destined for Hong Kong, 11 cell phones of various brands, three notebooks, and several technological components.
This case highlights Chilean authorities' efforts to combat the trafficking of stolen goods to international markets, with collaboration between Carabineros and Customs being key in detecting the irregularities.