More passengers at Vienna-Schwechat Airport also means more work for customs officials. As a result, the 83 employees of the Ministry of Finance also had significantly more arrests.

Last year, Vienna-Schwechat Airport was used by 29,5 million passengers. According to the Ministry of Finance, customs officers carried out exactly 48.852 risk-oriented controls. The officials found what they were looking for in 4.146. The successful checks show the wide range of customs duties: around 113 kg of narcotic drugs, 1 million euros in undeclared cash, around 15.000 pieces of illegal or counterfeit medication and 3,8 tons of food in accordance with animal health law were found.

“Vienna Airport recorded a strong increase in passengers in 2023. Accordingly, smuggling attempts increased again. However, our customs officers use their experience, risk analyzes and technical and animal support to carry out targeted and extremely successful checks, as last year's results show. The work is extremely important for protecting the Austrian economy and population. I would like to thank our customs officers for their professional and committed work,” said Finance Minister Magnus Brunner.

“Encouragingly, over 29,5 million passengers visited Vienna Airport in 2023. Friendliness and service orientation are particularly important in order to create a pleasant travel atmosphere for guests from home and the surrounding area. The customs authorities make a significant contribution to ensuring that the airport is one of the best in Europe in terms of customer friendliness, passenger quality, security and short cargo turnaround times. A big thank you to all customs officials. Proper customs clearance also plays a major role in the air freight sector. In order to support the customs authorities as best as possible in the logistics industry, Vienna Airport, together with the Customs Academy, is starting specialist training for airline and logistics employees to become air cargo agents,” adds Günther Ofner, CEO of Flughafen Wien AG.

Smugglers are becoming more and more creative

Customs has to constantly adapt its work due to changing legal regulations, creative smuggling attempts and geopolitical events, explains Heike Fetka-Blüthner, head of the Austrian Customs Office: “Due to the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, some smuggling routes have shifted. We responded quickly and adjusted our risk analyses. This means we have ensured a high hit rate in our checks in 2023 as well. Our success is achieved through professional, personally committed work on the one hand and the interaction with service dogs and modern technology on the other.”

Large quantities of narcotic drugs withdrawn from circulation In the area of ​​narcotic drug checks, the passenger processing officers at Vienna Airport made 157 arrests. They seized a significant amount of illegal substances: more than 70 kg of cannabis-containing products such as cannabis herb, cannabis resin and cannabis oil, 3,2 kg of heroin, 62,5 grams of cocaine, 8,9 kg of new psychoactive substances (“designer drugs”), 2,6, 109 kg and 26 pieces of psychoactive substances including MDMA, 100 tablets and 10 milliliters of opium or morphine, 63,5 liters and 28 grams of drugs containing addictive substances and XNUMX kg of khat.

Numerous “classics” such as tobacco, watches, jewelry and textile products seized. Particularly noteworthy in 2023 were the 1.295 seizures of cigarettes, with more than half a million cigarettes – 584.610 units – seized. Around 239 kilograms of smoking tobacco and 2.362 cigars were also seized. The watches and jewelry seized had a total value of over 2,2 million euros, including a pair of earrings worth 121.520 euros and a ring worth 42.000 euros from Zurich. Bags and textiles worth 346.231 euros were also confiscated.

Many protected animal species found

Roland Karner, travel team leader, reports: “A significant focus in 2023 was the control of bans and restrictions. These include, among other things, animal disease law, narcotic drugs, species protection, plant protection and also cash. Particularly sensational, but also depressing, were the seizures of 49 dried seahorses from Vietnam and 10 pieces of ivory carvings from Uganda, which were smuggled well hidden in wooden figures. But we still found them.”

Protection against animal diseases and species protection 1.014 seizures were recorded in the area of ​​animal disease law. The products inspected had a total weight of 3.805 kilograms. The seized items included 75 kg of fish, 1.886 kg of milk and milk products, 1.748 kg of meat and meat products, 55 kg of honey, 90 table eggs and 3 live animals. In terms of species protection, the customs officers again recorded a number of seizures, including 10 pieces of ivory carvings, 3,47 kg and 16 pieces of American ginseng, 1 piece of giraffe bone, 49 seahorses, 5 kg of caviar, 17 pieces of cobra balm, 1 set of mako shark teeth, 1 piece of bone a sea turtle, 1 musical instrument with python skin, 3 bottles of snake wine, 3 kg and 34 pieces of hard corals as well as 3 pieces of tiger balm.

Large cash movements In 2023, 1.127 cash declarations with a total value of 54,9 million euros were processed at Vienna Airport. Of this, 34.280.434 euros were exports and 20.178.308 euros were imports. The Austrian customs office also seized undeclared cash 38 times, the total value of which was over 1 million euros. The fines imposed amounted to around 90.000 euros, and seizures and enforcements amounting to around 40.000 euros were also carried out. In total, 1.921 destructions, confiscations or seizures were carried out. 51 reports were made to the financial criminal authority.

Further “highlights” of the seizures in travel:

• 3 wristwatches from Istanbul worth around 60.000 euros
• 6 kilograms of dead birds from Vietnam
• 1 kilogram of caviar from Russia via Dubai
• Watch + bags + clothing worth 437.000 euros from Dubai
• 28 kilograms of fresh khat from Tel Aviv
• Gold jewelry worth 17.000 euros from Tehran
• 1 bone of a sea turtle from Oman
• 1 giraffe bone (3 kg) from Windhoek
• 25 stabbing weapons to Russia