- "The way airports works in these destinations" - Customs officials don't stop and question everybody ; in most cases - if you are dressed well and speak respectfully , they let you go.
- I have heard Mumbai and Bangalore Customs officials could be unyielding at times ; they stick to the rule book and levy all taxes if caught . Not the case for other airports in India ;
- I m not sure about airports in Bangladesh ; Thailand ; Nepal ; Sri Lanka ; Malaysia and Indonesia - I guess the founders do have a certain insight into how these airports work.
It may break US exporting laws and embargos, or international laws too. It's almost certain the founders and everyone near them is going to end up arrested and probably imprisoned like any other smuggling organization.
These guys used ziplines instead of mules to move untaxed iPhones and iPads into Hong Kong, till the police shut them down.
http://www.intomobile.com/2011/08/09/chinese-ninjas-use-cros...
Here's some more people specifically dodging import taxes and then being arrested:
http://www.cnet.com/news/chinese-children-used-to-smuggle-ip...!
http://www.intomobile.com/2013/08/14/man-caught-smuggling-ip...
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Bad-ideas-lady-caught-smuggli...
This stuff is really black and white illegal.
And for your last point, no, it's not entirely legal without paying a tax in all countries. Please research your own country's custom laws before making a statement like that.
This will be a short-lived company because if you have a significant volume of stuff you don't declare you will either be taxed on the spot or arrested. If you have a discrete amount of stuff then you'd need eg, 5 or 6 people to fulfill an order for 10 iphones, and if 1 of them eats a $1000 customs bill the entire order approaches worthless.