Arnold Schwarzenegger reportedly held at Munich Airport due to issues related to his watch
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s trip to a charity auction for World Climate Summit in Kitzbühel, Austria just hit a snag.
TAMPA (WLFA/CNN) —The actor and former governor of California was detained Wednesday for several hours at Munich Airport after he was stopped by customs officers while traveling with an unregistered luxury watch, according to The Washington Post and CNN.
German newspaper Bild also published a photo that showed Schwarzenegger, who was reportedly traveling from Los Angeles, with two customs officers.
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BILD and TMZ have reported that the actor was stopped by customs agents for a “suspicion-free” bag check, which is when the luxury watch was discovered.
The watch, which Schwarzenegger reportedly said is worth 20,000 euros (slightly more than $21,700), was produced by Swiss manufacturer Audemars Piguet especially for Schwarzenegger’s private collection, according to BILD.
Thomas Meister, spokesman for the Munich Main Customs Office, told the newspaper the watch should have been registered as an import and that criminal proceedings under tax law have been initiated.
“This is the problem that Germany is suffering from. You can no longer see the forest for the trees,” Schwarzenegger told BILD.
The “Terminator” star reportedly told officials the watch was being auctioned off but was still fined 35,000 euros, half of which had to be paid in cash according to BILD.
BILD said Schwarzenegger reportedly was escorted to a bank by an airport employee so he could withdraw the cash for the fine.
“He cooperated at every step even though it was an incompetent shakedown, a total comedy of errors that would make a very funny cop movie,” the source added.
The actor agreed to pre-pay potential taxes on the watch and the officers failed to use a credit card machine for an hour until they gave up and brought him to a bank and asked him to withdraw cash from an ATM to pay, according to the source.
The ATM they brought him to had a limit too low and the bank was closed.
When he returned, a new officer brought a new credit card machine that worked, the source added.
