[sas]

hi,as the season gets into full swing many people will be bringing back duty free and duty paid goods from kusadasi PLEASE LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE!!!
i was-wrongly - under the impression that although turkey not being in the EU meant you could bring back 200 cigarettes only from duty free,that if you bought your cigarettes in kusadasi and paid turkish taxes then you could bring more back for personal use.
on my trip in march i bought 9 cartons of malboro lights for £180 and they were in my suitcase.
when we arrived at gatwick and went through NOTHING TO DECLARE channel i was stopped and asked if i had any cigarettes or alcohol in my cases.being honest i said yes and told him exactly what i had,he checked and found that i did indeed have 9 cartons and duly confiscated them.the tobacco allowance is 200 cigarettes bought on outward journey,in resort duty paid or at duty free in the return airport or on the plane.
i was allowed to keep 200 and given a written warning.i am sure on my next few trips i will be targeted by customs.so i'm £180 out of pocket through my own ignorance of the law,please learn from my mistake and don't get caught out yourselves
steve

[Rhona]

Couldnt you have paid the tax Steve?
I understood that if you paid the tax you kept the goods?

[sas]

Originally Posted by Rhona

Couldnt you have paid the tax Steve?
I understood that if you paid the tax you kept the goods?

to be honest i was never offered that chance and being shamed infront of everyone else going through customs i just wanted to hide and get away
a hard lesson learnt but hopefully others will not be told one thing by locals in turkey and find out differently at customs

[Rhona]

Hope someone can tell us about this.
I always take home over the allowance, when I get through I think great, if I get caught next time I will just pay the tax.

[joy]

Sorry to hear what happened to you Steve...but ..the allowance is 200 only.. and no Rhona they will not alow you to the pay the tax if you have gone through nothing to declare...you can pay the tax through the red channel...but then what is the point.
As your cases are scanned as you enter ANY turkish airport...they will inform the authorities at your country of destination re computer that you are carrying extra cigs ect.
Sometimes they check if you have extra cartons and see so on the scanner...we went to Kos on a trip and bought our 600 allowance from there back into Turkey as allowed....and as they where bought in greece and we kept the receipt we duly put them in our suitcase.
At the airport ....first scan of case.." open the case place" of course they could see we purchased in Greece and also had the receipt so looked disappointed that they couldnt do anything.
I know how you feel though Steve as everyone was looking at us as if we were international drug smugglers....no way would i take the risk!!!
So its a trip to Samos Rhona and only 600 lol.....or 200 from Turkey.

[CATHNJOHN]

Hi a lot of people make this mistake and are not helped by staff in the duty free shops and also ive seen notices on walls in airports telling you you may purchase as many as you wish to take home,also on a recent flight the Turkish attendants were giving carrier bags to customers to split up cartons and secrete them into different bags etc and also reccomending you also ask a friend or aquaintance travelling on your flight to carry the extras through for you,one said to us we sell and then its your countries problem but as you say its gutting to get caught out,its the chance you take once you know though.

[johnsonspad]

I always bring back 10 cartons and was stopped and checked in the green zone once, so know how you feel Steve, thought I had got away with it as the young customs bloke did not do a very good check, but as he went to shut the case all these cartons started to drop out and as you said Steve you feel everyone is looking at you, he went over and spoke to one of his superiors and came back and said don't do it again, then let me go, I think the only reason I got away with it was because on this journey we had a stop over in Germany, so I suppose in theory I was coming from an EU country and it was them that should have searched me, either way I was lucky.

[sas]

Originally Posted by johnsonspad

I always bring back 10 cartons and was stopped and checked in the green zone once, so know how you feel Steve, thought I had got away with it as the young customs bloke did not do a very good check, but as he went to shut the case all these cartons started to drop out and as you said Steve you feel everyone is looking at you, he went over and spoke to one of his superiors and came back and said don't do it again, then let me go, I think the only reason I got away with it was because on this journey we had a stop over in Germany, so I suppose in theory I was coming from an EU country and it was them that should have searched me, either way I was lucky.

sounds like the gods were smiling on you that day

[Rhona]

Ok, Next question is, how much is the trip to Samos?
And how much are the cigs there?

[Mella]

Trip to Samos is 35 euros/70 lira.

I thought you were allowed to take 600 cigarettes back with you, I always travel back to Holland with 3 cartons and I've never been stopped.