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Customs seizures hit new records

Swiss customs officials seized record amounts of smuggled goods in 2007, including illegal narcotics, counterfeit goods – and 83 metric tons of contraband meat.

The Federal Customs Office announced on Tuesday that it had confiscated 217 kilograms of cocaine and 199 kilograms of heroin – three times more than the previous year.

Authorities also reported a dramatic increase in seizures of so-called softer drugs including cannabis, khat and ecstasy.

Most drug seizures took place at Swiss airports, the customs office said.

Officials seized 210 tons of mostly meat, dairy products, cooking oil and flour, the bulk of it at the French border.

Apart from drugs and food, customs picked up 6,400 counterfeit luxury items, one-third of which came from China.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR