Every single PS2 I ever saw growing up was bought in the US (I grew up in a third world country). Consoles in big box stores here were outrageously expensive, like 3 to 4 times the price in the US. It was cheaper to fly to the US to buy one I kid you not, so that was what a lot of people did.
edit: Also all of them were modchipped, you could take any console to any random electronics repair shop to get it modded.