Customs officers seize 1088 illegal shipments in Zurich
Keystone-SDA
In the first week of November, Swiss customs officers seized 1,088 illegal shipments in Zurich. Recipients attempted to import weapons, medicines or doping substances.
Of the 1,088 illicit orders, 470 contained drugs and 256 alleged counterfeit products, the Federal Customs and Border Security Service stated at a press conference today. At the Zurich-Mülligen postal centre, customs officers also seized 94 consignments containing weapons, 59 packages with drugs, 68 laser pointers and 85 consignments of doping products.
Targeted checks were also carried out on online orders at twelve locations in canton Zurich. It was discovered that medicines came mainly from India and Hungary, and counterfeit products from China. Drugs, on the other hand, were mainly imported from the UK and Germany.
As far as medicines are concerned, sexual stimulants are in the lead with about 80%, a Swissmedic representative told the media. As far as doping substances are concerned, anabolic steroids are clearly in first place.
How the checks work
Swiss Post employees are responsible for the first triage. Green-labelled parcels are considered harmless.
Those with the blue label are set aside, because in these cases the checkers are not sure whether everything is legal. Red-labelled packages are sent directly to the customs officers for inspection.
The customs office then hands over the seized goods to the competent authorities, who will decide on possible fines or criminal proceedings.
Adapted from Italian by DeepL/ac
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