German customs officers have seized a convoy of lorries from the UK loaded with construction equipment without declaring their contents for post-Brexit import taxes.

Officials say they confiscated 31 excavator shovels, an excavator and a hydraulic hammer in the raid on the A3 autobahn near Nuremberg.

They said the 37-year-old unnamed owner of three vehicles heading for Bulgaria “was unable to provide proof of customs clearance for importing the goods into the EU with a total value of EUR 17,000 [GBP 14,880].”

Newsflash obtained a statement from the Nuremberg Main Customs Office on Wednesday, 16th November, saying: “Since BREXIT, Great Britain is no longer part of the EU and duties have to be paid when goods are imported.

“Apparently, not everyone understands that.

“On 8th November, a control unit from the main customs office in Nuremberg seized a convoy of vehicles from Great Britain at the Ludergraben car park on the A3 Wuerzburg – Regensburg, which had loaded heavy loads: 31 excavator shovels, an excavator and a hydraulic hammer.

“However, the owner of the three vehicles was unable to provide proof of customs clearance for importing the goods into the EU with a total value of EUR 17,000.

“Customs clearance was therefore ‘rescheduled’ by the customs officers and taxes were set at almost EUR 3,400 [GBP 2,973].”

The customs officers added: “Criminal proceedings were initiated on suspicion of tax evasion and a security of over EUR 4,500 [GBP 3,935] was set for this.”

Customs police added that the unnamed “37-year-old paid both sums on the spot and was then able to continue his journey to Bulgaria.”

The statement also said: “The smugglers don’t rest on Sundays either – but neither do the customs officers. This was discovered by the driver of a mobile home who came from the Baltic States and was checked by customs on 6th November at the Klosterwald car park on the A6 Nuremberg – Heilbronn.

“After being asked several times, the 44-year-old stated that he did not have any goods with him that had to be declared. His extreme nervousness alone made the officials doubt the statement. And rightly so – they found a total of 550 cartons of untaxed cigarettes in various storage compartments of the mobile home.

“The Munich Customs Investigation Office – Nuremberg office then took over the further investigations. The accused is in custody. The seizure prevented tax damage of almost EUR 20,000.”