Berlin: Arnold Schwarzenegger was held up for hours by customs at Munich airport after entering Germany with a luxury watch that was likely to be auctioned off at a charity event.
Customs spokesman Thomas Meister said on Friday that the former movie star and California governor was stopped for a routine inspection after arriving on Wednesday. Schwarzenegger was able to leave after about two and a half hours.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was held up for hours by customs at Munich airport after entering Germany with a luxury watch that was likely to be auctioned off at a charity event. credit: AP
Goods worth more than €430 ($654) entering to remain in the EU must be declared and, where applicable, pay customs duties. German daily BildSchwarzenegger's company, which first reported the incident, said the allegedly undisclosed watch made by Swiss company Audemars Piguet was valued at around 20,000 euros by Schwarzenegger, for whom it was specially produced.
The Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative said the actor was arrested “for traveling with a watch he owns, which he may auction off at his charity auction in Kitzbühel” in neighboring Austria.
She added in an email statement that Schwarzenegger “cooperated at every step even though it was an inept extortion operation” and that he agreed to “advance potential taxes on the watch (remember, it was his personal watch).”
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She said it was still likely the watch would be auctioned off and that the climate initiative “will report it properly, as all of Arnold's nonprofits do.” She added that Schwarzenegger's charity auctions raise millions of dollars each year for after-school programs for children across the United States and environmental work around the world.
The matter is now referred to the Customs Sanctions Authority in Augsburg, which will evaluate the case.
AP
