Ever Get Busted In Customs?

On our way to Munich airport, we stopped to fill up on gas and my husband thought he would have one last landjeager, smoked German sausage before we departed for the US. My husband did not finish it and asked me to hold it in my handbag wrapped in a paper bag. Not even remembering it was in my purse, the beagle at Philly airport came right over to me. I insisted I had nothing until I was asked to empty my purse. There it was... the landjaeger. The customs officer was ready to throw it away and my husband asked if he could eat it and they just proceeded to throw it away. He really wanted to give it to the dog! No, Just kidding!

On my first European trip in 1998 I was coming through the Toronto airport. I had forgotten that I had packed in my carry-on a ahem penis shaped lighter. I was asked by an alarmed customs officer to identify what he had seen on the xray. I looked and I started to panic because it looked to me like a gun! I thought someone planted something in my bags! THen I clued in and told him that it was a lighter. He went in my bag (at this time there were a few more officers) and pulled out the lighter. Thinking back I remeber some people in line laughing, but they were probably upset at me for the slight delay. I ended up having to go to a seperate desk and put my lighter in a small box to put on the plane.

THank goodness this happened before 9/11 as I was able to board the plane without any fines or problems!!!

Well, so far that tops mine!

Gives the word "hottie" a whole new meaning, don't it?

;)

Linda: They wouldn't let your husband eat that sausage???? Man! Talk about cruel and unusual!

B~

Upon returning from the UK, I filled out the Customs Declaration. I honestly stated yes, I had been in agricultural areas and was around sheep and walked through sheep fields. I got inspected for possible sheep dung on my shoes! Upon returning from the Germany, I declared chocolate (stocked up on candy bars from the airport) and they had to inspect my suitcase. Going through security to board, I had a Chico's bracelet in my carry-on. I guess it looked like brass knuckles . . . they had to dig through everything. I told them where to find it. They actually asked to step back while they were searching. I got stopped at the US Border Crossing near Nogales. The dog smelled something and wouldn't stop. I told the cute border patrol officer it was a rental car (NV plates) rented at Phoenix airport. He had me pull over and they inspected it. Great stories to share!

Linda's story reminds me of the Val Kilmer comedy movie Top Secret when the guard dogs alert on a man carrying a package. The East German guards shoot the man on the spot and the package turns out to be dog biscuits. LOL.

Every year I go to France, I always bring back CANNED foie gras. I always have to go to the agricultural line, but it says on the declaration that canned (sealed) goods are ok. Last year, I brought back canned duck confit. Never had a problem.

One thing, I had packed a baguette sandwich to have in coach and never ate. Completely forgot about in fact, until they took it away from me in customs.

Never any problems, but I always declare the wine, and I usually have food items I declare. But one time we were randomly (maybe) picked for a USDA inspection. They removed EVERYTHING from our luggage, went through it, leaving us to try to pack everything back in that had been squeezed in "just so" and try to make our connection. Of course we just smiled, what can you do? I still love the beagles though.

We bought lead crystal candle holders in Denmark that are shaped like raspberries. Going through airport security in Berlin, the attendants began speaking excitedly in German that we didn't understand. Sure enough, the lead crystal showed up on the x-ray as solid blobs with bumps all over... rather like hand-grenades.

At the end of my first trip to Italy, my well-meaning cousin gave us a number of gifts to take home -- including 2 large sausages. My sister decided that we just had to claim it on our customs form. I told her not to but she really thought it would be OK. After handing over the form at the Philly airport, we were (of course) pulled aside and my sister's bags were searched (I was carrying the wine). The sausages, buried under every "sensitive" item in my sister's suitcase, were of course confiscated and we were told "these will be destroyed". Oddly, though, the year before, my sister was able to get mozzarella di buffola (packed in a styrofoam, milk-filled box) through customs in her carry-on at the same airport...

When I was 12 I had a little pocket knife inside the zip up pocket in my teddy bear. They found it on xray.. they did not throw me in jail. I had forgotten it was even there, this was at Amsterdams airport, about a hundred years ago.. I think now they would not laugh and pat you on the head,, even if you are only twelve.

Returning to SFO, I forgot a piece of fruit in my backpack. Sure enough, the dog sniffed me out. They tossed the fruit, which was mushy and inedible anyway, but customs went through all my checked luggage (2 huge, 66 lb-ers) very thoroughly. It was another hour or more before I got out of the airport!

This July my family of 4 were heading to Europe to backpack for 5 weeks.We had been practicing using our "Sigg" refillable water bottles for weeks before the trip, so that filling the bottles would be second nature.Well, naturally, we filled the bottles when we left home, without even thinking.

Leaving from Pearson International Airport we hit customs and were told that we would have to throw out the water bottles($25 each, I don't think so!) or drink what was inside. Not 10 minutes before, my husband and I had enjoyed a coffee and my girls (12+14) each had a coke to drink. I thought I was going to explode. I stood there and drank the contents of 3 of the 4 bottles of water with tears in my eyes. It was a memorable start to the trip. We wont go into details about when my underwire bra set off the metal detector not 5 minutes later !!

Sarah, the problem was with the sausages, not food in general. Since all the mad-cow scares, you cannot bring meat products into the U.S. Wrapped cheeses, baked goods, etc. etc. are fine. And chocolate, of course.

Sylvia,, wow, that must have hurt,, I know my bladder could not have held all that water,,, LOL

Pat, it was brutal and I am so glad we only had the mid-sized bottles, not the Litre ones : )

Well, thankfully I didn't get caught. I had gone over the border at Nogales with a couple of friends when I was living in Arizona. On the return, it was chilly and one of my "friends" loaned me her jacket. Mercifully she waited until AFTER we had made it through the border to tell me that there was a joint in the pocket... Some friend. ;-)

In Munich this summer, when flying home, I had a 3.5 oz. bottle of lotion exclusively found in Paris,(I had regretted not getting it the first time I went to Paris, so I was really glad to have it). Because it was only .5 oz. over, I thought I would have no problem getting it through. Wrong! The heartless, impatient man checking our bags was about to throw my precious expensive lotion out for no reason except to 'prove a point.' Guys may not understand why I was so upset by this, but I am a teenage girl. Anyway, after two minutes of me protesting I finally broke down in tears (this is so embarassing to write!) and the guy got so sick of me that he let me have it and sent me away. Well, I will never make THAT mistake again! But, to all the ladies on this website: remember, sometimes tears DO work!

Nicole, the "heartless, impatient man" was following the rules. You weren't. You knew going in that it was in violation of the rule. And if he was about to throw the lotion out, it wasn't "for no other reason than to prove a point", he was doing his job. Though it worked for you, I would never suggest that tears sometimes work (nor would I pitch a fit over a bottle of lotion, but that's beside the point).

Somehow "Customs" and TSA (or its foreign equivalent) have gotten combined.

Once coming through Customs, I saw the agents pull over a guy who just got off a plane from Africa. They opened his suitcase and flies literally flew out of it. It was filled with meat and fruit. Needless to say, that suitcase got destroyed and the customs people armed themselves with bug spray.

I don't have a story of my own, so I'll share this one:

In 1999 when Jeb Bush was governor of Florida, his wife failed to declare $19,000 worth of clothing and jewelry purchased on a 5 day trip to Paris. She was fined $4,100. That is three times the amount of the duty she would have paid had she not attempted to smuggle the items into the country. The family released a statement explaining that she did not declare the items because she did not want Jeb to know how much she had spent. In other words, she was more afraid of her husband than of the customs officials. Hmmm...

Actually, a good story:

I was in the Navy, returning from an overseas deployment with a few souvenirs, including a fur coat for my wife. I declared it to customs and was prepared to pay the duty, but the agent took a look at how long I had been overseas (5 1/2 months), smiled, and said "welcome home-- no duty"... Probably could have gotten in trouble for that, but what a nice gesture...

My wife brought a pear with her on a flight to Philly from Paris. She didn't eat it on the flight and forgot about it. Until the little beagle in the green vest busted her. They were nice, but of course our little pear wasn't going to get into the US.

My sister got caught with stacks of Ecuadorian fruit in her suitcase. She can be a little spacey and honestly didn't think it wouldn't be OK, and she just wanted us to try the really cool looking, delicious stuff she had enjoyed. When she went back a few months later, her suitcase was already pulled aside when she got off the plane and she had to wait for the dog to get there and sniff. Guess she was on some kind of fruit smugglers list! Good thing she had learned her lesson.

I always used to bring coffee, mustards, nutella and and so on to the States back in the old days and I think I never declared it. Now though, do ya think I can still bring coffee with me in my suitcase if I declare it? The last time I did this was like 11 years ago.

Roasted Coffee Beans are okay.

Nearly everyone tries to get by with something once. If it works, it works, if it doesn't, it doesn't. Everyone else can lighten up a little. I got pulled aside by agriculture in Seattle so they could check the silk thistles I bought in Scotland for fertilizer residue.

There seems to be people here who forget what they were like when they were a teenager. It really isn't necessary to call something dumb, after reading a post from a teenager talking about an item that most have been important to her.

My tweens carried empty pop bottles (brands we don't have at home) all around Europe in their backpacks to bring home as mementos. For whatever reason it was important to them.

I'm glad to see from some of the other posts that Petie the Wonder Dog is still doing his job in Philly! When I was in the Netherlands last fall I was tempted to try to bring back Cuban cigars for my son and son-in-law but decided I'd get caught. I was also tempted to bring back the less expensive non-Custom approved flower bulbs...but didn't. Good thing, too. Petie met me as soon as I picked up the bag I had checked and started sniffing my tulip bulbs. I was totally legal and nothing was confiscated but, boy was I glad I had fought the urge to try to slip something through.

Teena, next time just remove the cigar bands and mail the bands home in an envelope if you want them.
If the cigars have no bands on them there is no way of knowing their origin. They do sell cigars from countries other than cuba in europe

I once bribed my way out of customs with chocolate.

I was returning to Benin, where I was a Peace Corps volunteer, from Paris. Knowing that decent chocolate was a serious delicacy, I brought a big stash back among other food items.

I nearly got out of customs all together by just walking through, but by stopping to let a woman go in front of me I got nabbed.

While the customs guys was going through my stuff, he stumbled across a bar of chocolate. He looked at me, and I asked him if he'd like it (in French). He promptly zipped up my bag and marked the rest as checked.

FWIW, you can get any clear liquid back if you put it in a Nalgene and check it. This is how we get bush moonshine back into the US.

Oh, customs stories.... My husband and I were bring back homemade jelly from his aunt in Germany (which, actually, I think is legal, since it's processed), and we got stopped by the beagle in Atlanta. The handler asked us if we had fruit, which, technically, we did not. Then she asked if we had been carrying fruit in that bag during our trip. The lightbulb went on, because we realized that my husband's other aunt sent us on the road to Amsterdam with a bag full of apples. So maybe the dog was really sniffing that, I don't know. But the jelly made it home.

We also tried to sneak an extra bottle of wine back from France. But fate was against us, because when we picked up our luggage in customs, one of the bags was dripping. At least it was a bottle of white that broke!

Ups, I did not know that you are not allowed to bring any meat back with you. I brought a can of reindeer meat and an other can of pate. I had no problems though (and I made this great meal of reindeer and my husband loved it but he did not know what he was eating till he was done. He is a very picky eater and would not have eaten it, had he known what it was).

Is meat alright when it is canned or not at all?

New Zealand customs snabbed me for carrying honey into the country. Apparently a glass jar had come up on the xray, and honey is prohibited. I swore black and blue that I didn't carry honey, i dont even like the stuff and i had no idea what i'd done wrong. So i stood there mortified trying not to cry (I was 17 and my future in-laws were watching) as they removed my clothes, underwear, and personal items searching for the honey. The "honey" turned out to be a jar of lip gloss. Customs basically said "oh well" and i had to quickly repack my bags and move on. Totally embarrassing.