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Gold smuggling at Hamburg Airport: Customs catches fraudster!
In July 2025, customs officials discovered undeclared gold jewelry worth several thousand euros during checks in Hamburg and Karlsruhe.
Gold smuggling at Hamburg Airport: Customs catches fraudster!
A 27-year-old woman from Afghanistan had an unpleasant surprise during a recent customs check at Hamburg Airport. On July 1, 2025, she wanted to leave the “green channel” for goods that do not require declaration when customs officers from the Itzehoe main customs office got involved. When they checked their hand luggage, the officers found invoices from a jeweler, but no jewelry, which made the customs officers skeptical. When asked, the traveler finally admitted that she was wearing jewelry on her body, which turned out to be gold jewelry weighing over 200 grams. The jewelry found was worth around 20,000 euros, which increased the import duties to around 4,300 euros. She is now facing criminal tax proceedings on suspicion of tax evasion, as news.de reports.
As in the case of the Afghan woman, other incidents also show that customs controls are carried out regularly and at full speed. Would you like an example? On March 26, 2025, undeclared gold jewelry worth a total of several thousand euros was seized at Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport. Two eye-catching gold chains belonging to an Albanian national traveling from Tirana were discovered here. Since his goods were also not properly declared, he had to pay import duties of 599.30 euros before he was allowed to continue his journey, underlining the strict regulations regarding the declaration of gold jewelry. As [zoll.de](https://www.zoll.de/SharedDocs/Press Releases/DE/Sonstiges/2025/z43_goldschmuck_ka.html) states, the travel allowance for air travelers is 430 euros.
Customs controls and their importance
Compliance with these regulations is very important for travelers, because importing goods above this exemption limit not only threatens high import taxes, but also criminal tax proceedings. Another example from Karlsruhe concerns a Kosovar family who, through an X-ray check, suspected undeclared gold jewelry. Here, the affected travelers also had to pay import duties and were faced with criminal tax proceedings, which once again shows that the customs authorities are vigilant and carry out strict controls.
For many travelers, customs clearance may initially be confusing as the procedures behind customs controls are very complex. The basic structure includes numerous steps, ranging from the advance arrival of goods to customs clearance and follow-up inspections. Anything not declared properly can lead to unpleasant surprises. According to taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu, control is mostly risk-based, meaning some travelers are more in focus than others.
Therefore, travelers should make sure that they correctly declare their jewelry and other valuable items before entering the country to avoid unpleasant surprises. Because as recent events show, for those who travel with great values, there is not only the opportunity to get a good deal, but also the risk of becoming embroiled in a legal dispute.