Customs at Nuremberg Airport caught smuggler with 3,740 cigarettes!

Customs at Nuremberg Airport caught smuggler with 3,740 cigarettes!

A remarkable smuggling case was uncovered at Nuremberg Airport, which shows how creatively the perpetrators are used to bring untaxed cigarettes into the country. Loud Augsburger Allgemeine The customs officers found a whopping 3,740 cigarettes in an air freight shipment that officially only consisted of two packages of pencils and fineliners!

The cigarettes were cleverly hidden in small outer boxes and a decorative box. Thanks to the suspicious look of the customs officers, who took the cumbersome packaging as an opportunity to X-ray the packages, the illegal contents were discovered. The recipient, whose identity has not yet been published, is now being investigated for tax evasion. Over 1,640 euros in taxes would have had to be paid on the cigarettes, which shows how high the risk and financial burden can be for smugglers.

Investigations in a larger context

This incident is just part of a much larger problem. In January 2025, officers from the Hanover Customs Investigation Office were able to uncover an extraordinary smuggling of 1.5 billion untaxed cigarettes in 150 containers. This operation, carried out in collaboration with customs investigators from Belgium and the Netherlands, represents a tax loss of approximately 550 million euros, according to BVTE.

Jan Mücke, the general manager of the BVTE, warns: “Excessive increases in tobacco taxes could further fuel international cigarette smuggling.” Extrapolated to the European market, the consumption of illegal cigarettes is alarming. In countries such as France and Ireland, one in three cigarettes smoked comes from smugglers, which is a major concern for tax authorities.

Hamburg Airport and the tax consequences

But there were attempts at smuggling not only in Nuremberg. A fraud was also recently uncovered at Hamburg Airport: customs officials uncovered 31,600 cigarettes that were being transported by a traveler and discovered a tax loss of over 5,500 euros. During the inspection, the person claimed that he was not carrying any goods that required declaration, but this turned out to be false. Here too, the smuggling business led to criminal tax proceedings for attempted tax evasion, informed Zoll.de.

The number of illegally imported tobacco products and e-cigarettes is constantly increasing. From the perspective of the customs authorities, these offenses are not only a financial problem, but also a health problem, as they often involve inadequately controlled and potentially harmful products. The safety net is urgently needed here because consumers and especially young people should be protected.

These current events make it clear that the fight against cigarette smuggling is by no means won and continued cooperation between authorities at national and international levels remains necessary. Developments over the next few months will show how this situation develops and whether the interventions in the smuggling market are successful.