Hong Kong watch smugglers busted

SHENZHEN: Two Hong Kong residents were charged with smuggling luxury watches into the Chinese mainland, which they sold online, the local anti-smuggling department said on Monday.

They confessed to smuggling in 1,733 watches, with a value of 15.8 million yuan ($2.3 million), and selling them. They also evaded almost 5 million in taxes.

The anti-smuggling department received a tip last year about a gang that, since November 2007, hired individual smugglers to transport the watches.