Italians use imagination to smuggle £32m cash

Customs and excise officials have made seizures worth more than €41 million (£32m) as Italians worried about the ongoing euro crisis try to smuggle bank-notes, gold and silver into and out of the country.

In the first seven months of the year border guards known as the Guardia Di Finanza made more than 2,600 spot checks at various crossings between Italy and Switzerland, and also at the country’s main international airports in Rome and Milan.

The figure released this weekend is a jump of 78 per cent compared to the same period last year when €23m was intercepted and shows just how much of a battle prime minister Mario Monti faces in his attempts to solve Italy’s financial crisis.

Tax evasion is seen as a national sport in Italy, with an estimated €120 billion evaded each year. Italy has 40 million registered taxpayers, but more than 28 million claim to earn €20,000 or less.

In recent weeks, officers intercepted one woman at Rome’s Fiumicino airport who had tried to smuggle €100,000 in bank-notes into the country sewn into her underwear.

Other seizures also include an Italian businessman who had hidden €122,000 in false bottoms in his suitcases.

One of the most bizarre was a man who had concealed €200,000 in €500 notes inside a carton of cigarettes by inserting a note into each cigarette.

But it’s not just cash that customs chiefs have discovered – the amount of precious metal seized has also shot up compared with last year – 88kg of gold in the first seven months compared with 45kg in the same period of 2011.

Regulations state that duty is payable on sums of €10,000 or more when entering or leaving the country.