Curiosities under the Christmas tree: customs officers discover sensations!

Curiosities under the Christmas tree: customs officers discover sensations!

In the hectic pre -Christmas period, the customs officials are particularly challenged: they stumble again and again over curious and sometimes questionable finds in package programs. From living animals to fake products to harmful goods - the list of discoveries is long. For example, chicken feet from Japan were secured at the customs office in Kaiserslautern. This import was prohibited for animal disease reasons, reports nau.ch . Also living tarantulas and dangerous voodoo devices-which were supposed to heal, but rather caused injuries-cause shock moments at the customs even.

Especially in the course of the pre-Christmas online shopping, which is picking up speed with Black Friday in November, caution is required. Many buyers do not think of customs and import sales taxes that may arise when purchasing from non-EU countries. As the German customs administration , the regular sales tax of 19 percent is charged for goods values up to EUR 45, while gift shipments up to 45 euros are released from these fees. However, buyers should be aware that fake branded goods quickly become an expensive misinvestment because it is secured and destroyed. There are also legal consequences.

dangers when buying online

The customs authorities urgently warn of the dangers of international shopping. It always happens that high -priced articles such as jewelry are declared with too low values. A case was currently known in which valuable bracelets of 52,000 euros were only specified at 15 euros. This led to high additional payments and criminal proceedings. The customs officers look particularly closely this season to prevent such attempts at fraud while at the same time encountering strange finds and sensitizing that online purchase is often associated with unpleasant surprises.