Geneva Airport: customs watches over the grain

A pangolin and a dead veran, a counterfeit Hermès belt, or various exotic plants: here are some of the recent catches of customs officers in the area arrived from the airport. Their position is located just after the luggage reception carpets. Their mission: to track down the unconvolved goods, out of oblivion, ignorance or voluntarily, or those prohibited in the territory for health reasons, or even the protection of flora and fauna, among others.

“It is not because we can buy that it is tolerated,” explains Donatella Del Vecchio, spokesperson for the Federal Customs and Border Security Office (OFDF). The pretty orchid acquired at Bangkok airport is a bad idea. ” Same thing for example for corals or shells: “People pick it up at the beach, but they do not realize that it is protected.” Beyond 150 francs of goods, it is necessary to declare. “We try to encourage people to come to us, because once the passage” nothing to declare “crossed, it’s too late,” explains Christophe Dudin, operational chief.

If some passengers spontaneously present themselves to customs officials, in other cases, they go to their contact. “The gentleman there, with the white t-shirt,” said Suddenly Christophe Dudin to one of his colleagues. He intercepts a traveler who was about to cross the exit door and invite him in the OFDF space, where his luggage will be checked. First by passing through an X -ray machine: “We start there, it helps to avoid opening the baggage if there is nothing suspicious,” said the officer.

In this case, this passenger who arrived from Pristina carried in particular four liters of strong alcohol. “It was grape, it was my brother who made it,” he says. “It does not pass, a liter is authorized,” announces a customs officer, after having searched the suitcase until the bites “which can serve as a double bottom”. In the end, the traveler gets away with a customs clearance to settle and a reminder of order: “He should have paid a fine of 50 francs, but it was the first time, he collaborated, we made him aware, specifies the agent. We are not there to annoy people and only to rage, but also to make them understand. ”

On the lookout, agents carry out dozens of checks such as this every day. Discretion obliges, we will not know the identification techniques. “There is the customs flair, and thefts where there is more probability of fraud,” says Christophe Dudin. There is also people’s behavior. ”

Precisely, a couple passes in front of one of the two outings, seems to hesitate, then heads towards the other passage. What awaken suspicions. Inside the luggage of these Koreans who have passed through Frankfurt, algae and fish intended for their daughter, which makes golf in Switzerland. Everything is fine, the quantity is less than 20 kilos tolerated per person: “The lady had checked before leaving if it was authorized, tells a customs officer. Here, do like her. “