Arnold Schwarzenegger, detained at German customs (and must be accompanied to an ATM)

BarcelonaThe actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger was detained at German customs this Wednesday for failing to declare a luxury watch he was carrying in his luggage. The protagonist of Terminator, who was born in Austria, was subjected to routine screening by customs officials at Munich airport following landing on a flight from Los Angeles. According to the German media Bildwhen the agents detected the watch that had not been declared – and which has a value of 26,000 euros – they detained the Hollywood star in the airport police facilities.

Schwarzenegger carried in his luggage a watch from the Swiss luxury brand Audemars Piguet that was custom made for him and is a replica of an iconic model from the brand from 150 years ago. The actor’s intention was to auction the accessory at a dinner prior to the start of the World Climate Summit being held in Kitzbühel (Austria) and give benefits to environmental defense initiatives. While passing through customs he forgot to declare the watch and, consequently, legal proceedings were opened once morest him. “The watch should have been registered because it is an import,” explained Thomas Meister, spokesman for the Munich customs office. Although he initially took the interrogation calmly, the actor began to lose his temper when the agents’ questions turned personal. Among other things, they asked him how many children he had, what his partner’s name was or how much money he had in the bank. Although Schwarzenegger insisted that the watch would be auctioned for a good cause, customs officials did not listen.

The action movie hero was fined to pay the value of the import –26,000 euros–, a figure to which was added the tax value of 4,000 euros and a penalty of 5,000 euros. In total, German customs demanded 35,000 euros from Schwarzenegger, a sum that the actor wanted to pay with his credit card, something that the agents did not allow him to do because 50% of the customs duties must be paid in cash. As detailed Bild, to end the conflict, an agent accompanied the actor to a bank to withdraw money. Finally, following almost three hours detained, Schwarzenegger was able to continue his trip.