Editor’s Note
This article reports on a recent incident at the Brogeda border crossing, where two individuals were stopped by customs and financial police for attempting to bypass checks while carrying a pure diamond.
They attempted to bypass customs checks. They also had a pure diamond.
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Intervention by the Guardia di Finanza at Brogeda.
Brogeda — In recent days, personnel from the Customs and Monopolies Agency of the local Ponte Chiasso detachment and soldiers from the Ponte Chiasso Group stopped a car heading to Italy at the Brogeda highway border crossing, with two people on board. When asked routine questions about possessing goods or currency to declare, the two travelers answered negatively, claiming to be simple tourists heading to Milan. An initial inspection found a money-counting machine in the vehicle’s cabin. This unusual discovery triggered a full inspection of their luggage, which revealed a precious ring with 12 diamonds set, each weighing one carat, with corresponding gemological certificates; an unset diamond weighing one carat, accompanied by a gemological certificate; and seven gold bars with a total value of €35,218.40, the latter being assimilated to cash due to their gold content (over 99.5%).
The owner of the goods, a jeweler by profession in Poland, explained that he had to reach the Lombardy capital for investments and was fully aware of the customs declaration obligations, but had not fulfilled them at the time of the stop. The established facts led to the charge of smuggling precious items. In the absence of commercial documentation, the value of the ring and the unset diamond is being quantified to calculate the evaded customs duties and the penalty. For two of the seven gold bars, with a total weight of 200 grams and a value of €25,156, a violation of currency regulations was charged for exceeding the threshold of €10,000. The goods were placed under administrative seizure. This operation is the result of the now consolidated collaboration between the Customs and Monopolies Agency and the Guardia di Finanza.