Stowaways, monkeys and tons of drugs: Customs reports on the strangest discoveries

Created: 05/28/2022, 09:00

Pop star Justin Bieber traveled to Germany with "Mally" in 2013 - but without papers for the capuchin monkey.

It was confiscated and housed in the Munich-Riem animal shelter.

© Peter Kneffel

Munich Airport isn't the only one celebrating its 30th birthday this year: Customs has been there for a long time.

In three decades, the officials have experienced a lot.

Airport

– With the move of the airport from Riem to Erdinger Moos, a new era began for Munich customs: the airport service became an independent main customs office, reports spokesman Thomas Meister.

On May 17, 1992, around 300 customs officers set off punctually at midnight from their new place of work, the main customs office in Munich Airport (until it merged with the main customs office in Munich in 2002).

"In the following 30 years, the customs officers at Munich Airport experienced one or two fascinating - or frightening - highlights," writes Meister.

Animal travel companion

Even the start in air freight handling is an unusual one.

"Dissimulator", a three-year-old stallion owned by a sheikh, has to be dispatched - not an everyday situation.

Soon after, a woman is stripped of her snakeskin jacket, which the traveler doesn't like at all: "How I dress is my business.

The cattle are already dead anyway,” she explains to the officials.

An Australian, on the other hand, transported live snakes in autumn 2011: the 22-year-old had 36 in his hand luggage.

In March 2018, two customs officers were called to help because of a "stowaway": A giant crab spider, which can have a leg span of up to 30 centimeters, got lost in the backpack of a couple from Australia.

However, animals are repeatedly being deliberately smuggled: In April 2018, officials discovered four Siam Oriental pedigree cats that were crammed into a sports bag without water during the flight from Moscow to Munich.

The 43-year-old Russian, who owns the animals, explains that they are intended for sale in this country.

The buyers who “ordered” the cats via Instagram are already waiting in the arrivals area.

Apparently popular

In 1994, a man arrives at the airport in a plane from French Guyana.

As he waits for his luggage, a customs officer notices that the vacationer's hat is moving: underneath is a small brush-eared monkey that the traveler claims to have bought for ten US dollars.

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Nine years later, a celebrity enters the country illegally with a monkey: Pop star Justin Bieber has to hand over the capuchin monkey "Mally", which he keeps as a pet, at the airport: "Mally" lacks the papers required for entry.

In 2015, however, the customs officials made a creepy find: they confiscated a monkey skull weighing 650 grams and 23 centimeters long.

Questionable Delicacies

Customs officers discovered 2,100 dead songbirds in luggage in 2004, and a year later 2,634 birds were transported.

"The protected meadow pipit is a delicacy in Italy," explains Meister.

In the spring of 2012, customs caught a "specialty chef": He had 49 live reptiles in cloth bags with him.

"The traveler even wanted to bite off the head of one of the animals under the eyes of the customs officers," said the customs spokesman.

The most recent curious find dates from this year: A traveler from the Congo has a whole, roasted cane rat in his luggage – intended for consumption.

Due to animal health regulations, however, the import of this delicacy is not permitted in Germany.

Protected Species

Every year, customs have to confiscate numerous goods that are protected under the Washington Convention on the Protection of Endangered Species.

In the first two years alone, there were "around 4,000 processed products from protected animals and plants," says Meister.

In 1995, for example, 1828 rare cacti were confiscated, which two Austrians traveling from Mexico were transporting in their suitcases.

Risky cocaine smuggling

To import illegal substances by air, smugglers often get creative – and sometimes risk their lives.

In 1994, a 32-year-old pregnant Colombian woman traveled from Rome to Munich - carrying 600 grams of cocaine in her stomach.

Germany's largest find of crystal was recorded at Munich Airport in 2013: the customs officials seized a total of 20 kilograms of the drug.

© dpa

Four years later, a compatriot does the same: The 33-year-old comes into the moss with a machine from Madrid.

The Colombian gets caught up in contradictions during customs control and finally reveals that he has over 1.1 kilos of cocaine in his stomach - packed in 88 bags.

In 2007, customs officers discovered the previous record amount of 1.5 kilograms of cocaine in the body of a young man arriving from Spain: the 20-year-old student swallowed the drug, packed in 102 sachets.

Cigarettes, money and intoxicant records

In 1998, a 26-year-old student from the Netherlands smuggled 3,000 ecstasy tablets in a bottle of bubble bath.

In 2003, a 60-year-old construction worker tried to import 2,360 cigarettes hidden in tea packets.

Ten years later, the largest crystal find in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany was made at the airport in Moos: Believe it or not, 20 kilograms of the drug were seized.

There was another record in 2017: officials found ten kilograms of nandrolone in luggage.

"This is the largest amount of doping substances found that the main customs office in Munich has been able to record in one fell swoop to date," says Thomas Meister.

An even larger quantity of intoxicants will be seized in 2021: a shipment from Dubai declared as “table decoration” is to land in the USA.

But the Munich customs officials checked the goods and seized 1.2 tons of dried khat – the largest quantity of the chewing drug seized since the airport was founded.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)

"Cash smuggling has increased in recent years," says spokesman Thomas Meister.

In 2017, a 37-year-old tried to smuggle around 232,000 euros into China, hidden in detergent packaging.

In 2020, customs officials secured 320,000 euros in the suitcase of a Chinese woman - in sealed coffee, biscuit and crisp packaging.