HUFFINGTON
07.28.13
COURTESY OF SPRINT
THE BIG STEAL
are distributed across Southeast
Asia, said Baldinger, Sprint’s attorney. Many phones are also shipped
to Dubai, Israel and Latin America.
In 2011, Ace Wholesale shipped
dozens of iPhones and Samsung
Nexus phones to Go Telecom HK
and Mobile Planet HK, according
to invoices obtained by Sprint.
These two companies listed addresses in Kowloon, a district of
Hong Kong that is thick with elec-
tronics merchants.
Most traffickers ship phones in
large cardboard boxes via FedEx
and UPS, according to Deaven,
the Homeland Security agent. The
destination of stolen phones often
depends on the provenance of the
traffickers.
“Here in San Francisco, a lot of
people have ties to Mexico,” San
Francisco police Sgt. Josh Kumli
said. “A lot of phones are going to
Mexico because that is where they
have contacts.”
Until December of last year,
Thuc Ngo
told Sprint’s
lawyers in
court that
he collected
used iPhones
that he
purchased
throughout
the Bay
Area in a
van before
smuggling
them to
his native
Vietnam.