Worth one million euros: man tries to smuggle paintings out of Switzerland

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The German customs officers had the right instincts for this seemingly unsuspecting check! At the end of June they took a man (23) out of circulation and thus prevented the illegal import of art.

The driver wanted to cross the border in Rheinfelden with 28 expensive paintings – without submitting them to customs control, the main customs office in Lörrach writes in a statement.

The young driver assured officials that he had no items to register with him. An outright lie, as it turned out.

The officials remained suspicious and pulled the pickup anyway. In the hold they found paintings worth almost a million euros.

criminal case started

The 23-year-old immediately had an excuse: as a driver for a transport company, all he had to do was take the paintings from Switzerland to an exhibition in Germany.

Now the driver risks a fine for tax evasion. The customs officials have now initiated criminal proceedings. There were also high costs for the owner. He had to pay 67,000 euros in import duties.

background unclear

When asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency, the spokeswoman for the main customs office did not want to say what works of art are involved and where the exhibition should take place.

It would violate tax secrecy because you could find out who owned the paintings, she said. (man)

Source: Blick