Schwarzenegger was detained for three hours at a German airport for an unusual reason

The Austrian actor and former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was detained for three hours today at customs at Munich airport for failing to declare upon his arrival from Los Angeles a luxury watch that he intends to auction this Thursday in Austria, German media reported.

A spokesperson for Munich customs confirmed to the weekly Der Spiegel that Schwarzenegger has been arrested and that criminal tax proceedings have been opened against him.

customs agents Schwarzenegger was interrogated for three hours and they would have asked him how many children he has, what his partner’s name was, how much money he had in the bank and what his assets were, as reported by the Bild newspaper.

The actor told Bild that he explained to officials that the watch was being auctioned for a good cause and that it was a charity project, but all his arguments were in vain.

The actor wants to auction the watch tomorrow during a gala dinner before the climate summit in Kitzbühel (Austria).

Schwarzenegger ultimately had to pay 35,000 euros to import the watch into the European Union (EU) and pay a fine of 5,000 euros, again according to Bild.

The star of Austrian origins wanted to pay the sum by credit card, but the agents explained to him that he would have to pay 50% in cash.

Since he didn’t have much money with him, an official accompanied him to the bank, Bild reports.

The watch comes from the Swiss luxury brand Audemars Piguet and, according to the same source, is worth around 20,000 euros.

Audemars Piguet only produces around 45,000 watches a year, and Schwarzenegger’s watch was produced by the Swiss company exclusively for the actor’s private collection.

Source: EFE

Schwarzenegger, the “wanted” of the day

Google Trends reflected spikes in searches for the name Arnold Schwarzenegger on the day of his arrest.

At times, since the news broke, he was much more wanted than, say, Leonardo DiCaprio.