“Professional smuggling has no lockdown.” Roland Karner, team leader at the customs office at Vienna Airport, drew this conclusion in retrospect on 2020. Although there was a decrease of around 43 percent compared to 2019, the airport handled 75 percent fewer passengers. Among other things, the finds of leeches and martial eagle feathers were bizarre.
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Karner reported about 30,000 controls in tourist traffic at the airport in Schwechat. In normal times it is 90,000 to 100,000 per year. There were 2,156 seizures. Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) emphasized that customs activities are also relevant in times of declining passengers.
According to the balance sheet for 2020, 34.5 percent of all seizures in the passenger clearance of the airport customs took place according to the animal disease law. Around 1.5 tons of meat and dairy products as well as 50 kilos of honey were confiscated. These products are subject to restrictions to prevent the introduction of animal diseases and diseases.
Cigarettes and cigars in the luggage accounted for 27 percent of the attacks. 782,490 pieces were seized by customs. Third place among all seizures went to prohibited imports of plants, fruit and vegetables with around 21 percent. According to the Ministry of Finance, around three tons were carried, contrary to the applicable bans and restrictions as well as plant protection regulations.
8.8 percent of all seizures related to jewelry (value: 393,000 euros), 2.9 percent to textiles for 47,300 euros. Also at 2.9 percent, seizures of addictive substances were found among travelers. 220 kilos of khat, around 14 kilos of heroin and about two kilos of cocaine were also withdrawn from circulation by customs.
“There is almost nothing that has not already been attempted to be smuggled,” said Blümel. About 300 grams of medicinal leeches that were supposed to be imported from Turkey are remembered. 73 feathers of a martial eagle can also be seen as an unusual pickup. Customs controls in tourist traffic are not only important for economic reasons, it is also about the protection of people and animals, the minister stated.
According to Karner, the “newer” smuggled goods include skin bleaching agents, some of which are naturally carcinogenic. Thousands of MNS masks were also seized last year. Professional smugglers reacted immediately by resuming air traffic after the first lockdown.
A leopard and a wolf skin, a stuffed crocodile, a tiger's claw and a handbag made of snakeskin were also confiscated and presented on the occasion of the balance sheet for the past year. In addition, there were “potency pills of all kinds”, forbidden weapons such as brass knuckles and items of clothing that come under trademark protection.
