Israel Tax Authority figures show that incoming airport passengers in 2014 failed to declare NIS 10 million in diamonds, jewelry, and gold, plus cigarettes, cellphones, unreported cash, and designer drugs.
9,000 Israeli and tourist passengers detained by customs personnel at Ben Gurion Airport were caught with smuggled goods in their baggage or on their persons. Some of these passengers came through the line for those with nothing to declare, while others declared some items, but were caught with others they did not declare.
The smuggled items seized included 380,000 packs of cigarettes, 2,000 cellphones, and 180 kilos of designer drugs seized from mail packages and couriers. Jewelry worth NIS 1 million and gold worth NIS 1.5 million were seized, as well as three gold ingots carried by a tourist from Germany disguised as a souvenir from a historical site in Berlin.
These items are subject to customs duties, and were therefore concealed by the passengers. Items not subject to customs duties, but for which reporting is required, were also seized, including NIS 7 million worth of diamonds either unreported or not declared in accompanying documents and NIS 6.3 million in unreported Israeli or foreign currency (reporting is required for bringing NIS 100,000 or more).
The following items are exempt from customs duties upon arrival in Israel:
- Clothing, footwear, and personal toiletries customarily carried in a traveler's baggage;
- Alcoholic beverages: up to two liters of wine and up to one liter of hard liquor for each passenger over 18;
- Perfume up to 0.25 liters per passenger;
- Up to 250 grams of tobacco in any form (one packet up to 200 cigarettes) for each passenger over 18;
- Other items for personal use or as gifts up to a value of $200 for each passenger over two years old.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 1, 2015
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