Woman dies on bus near Brazilian restaurant with 26 iPhones glued to her body

The Apple App Store app on a smartphone arranged in New York, US, on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Credit: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

A 20-year-old woman died on Tuesday in Brazil with 26 iPhones glued to her body, according to local reports.

G1, a Brazilian digital and TV news network, reported the victim as being found on the bus, where she was treated before succumbing to cardiac issues.

While attempting to save her life, G1 reported that emergency responders found packages containing 26 iPhones attached to her body. They note that some of the iPhones were refurbished.

Paramedics spent around 45 minutes attempting to save her life, but were unsuccessful.

G1 reported that local authorities were called to investigate the scene, with police telling the news outlet that bottles of liquor were found inside the victim’s luggage.

Gazeta do Parana, a Brazilian news organization, suspected the iPhones were part of a smuggling operation.

Brazil has a large black market for smart phones that are smuggled in from bordering countries like Paraguay, according to H2FOZ, a South American outlet. They reported 196 smartphones were intercepted in a truck’s false bottom on the Friendship Bridge that connects Paraguay and Brazil.

According to a H2FOZ report from last month, from January to May of this year, seizures of black market iPhones have spiked by nearly 25 per cent. Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service estimates 10,000 cellphones enter Brazil illegally every day.

“(Cellphone smugglers) pass through in small quantities and distribute them to the rest of Brazil,” Claudio Marques, a deputy delegate of Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service, told H2FOZ.