Customs Report 2024: Half a Ton of Narcotics and 6.1 Million Cigarettes Seized

In total, Austria's customs carried out over 6.6 million customs clearances and 635,176 inspections, with inspections increasing by 4.6 percent compared to 2023. The main revenues come from over 86 percent from the mineral oil tax (approx. 3.8 billion euros), tobacco tax (2.1 billion euros), and emissions trading (1.2 billion euros). Tax collection is only part of the tasks, explains customs director Heike Fekta-Blüthner. Another focus is on control and fraud prevention, particularly in checking whether goods are allowed to enter the economic cycle.

Half a Ton of Narcotics and 6.1 Million Cigarettes Seized by Austria's Customs

The answer is clearly negative when it comes to the import of counterfeit medicines or narcotics. Combating narcotics smuggling was once again a major focus of the Austrian customs office's work in 2024. The number of narcotics seizures amounted to 1,330, and over half a ton of narcotics was seized, which means more than a doubling of the amount compared to 2023 (217 kilograms).

The area of medicines is also a constant issue, with 378,109 pieces of illegally imported medicines or counterfeit or adulterated pharmaceuticals and anabolic steroids seized last year. In the area of tobacco products, around 6.1 million cigarettes (2023: 1.4 million cigarettes) were confiscated last year, and an additional 52,543 pieces of other tobacco products were seized.

Austria's Customs Found 200 Animals in Connection with Wildlife Protection Offenses

A focus of the year 2024 was product safety and product piracy with almost 130,000 counterfeit items seized, but the tasks of the customs office also include protection against diseases, emphasized Fekta-Blüthner, among other things, with reference to the cases of foot-and-mouth disease in the two neighboring countries Hungary and Slovakia last spring. As for the seized animal products, they weighed a total of 18.6 tons. About 12.6 tons were meat and meat products, and another 5.2 tons were milk and dairy products.

The approximately 1,740 customs officers repeatedly encounter live animals in their work. 200 were discovered last year, reported Eibinger-Miedl on the area of wildlife protection. In addition to the mentioned live animals, 3,350 items made from protected animals and plants were also removed from circulation. Among them were a variety of medicines with ingredients from protected species, as well as a dead Nile crocodile and corals. A man from Salzburg was already sentenced to three months of conditional imprisonment after customs investigations because he had offered 57 ivory sculptures and animal preparations from the strictly protected wildlife protection list for sale on the internet.

(APA/Red)

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