Customs officers seized 479 firearms between the start of January and the end of September 2026 — more than nine times the total for the whole of 2025, the Customs Agency says. Of those, 457, or 95%, were seized from the end of May onwards.

In the last four months alone, officers took in nine times more weapons than in all of 2025.

Cigarette seizures also hit a record. Customs caught 56.7m cigarettes over the nine months. That is 12% more than in the whole of 2025, when the figure was 50.7m. More than 29m came from joint operations in February and March, and more than 27m from customs and excise intelligence and investigation work. About 10m of these cigarettes were stopped in the first half of the period, and the other 17m between the end of May and the end of September.

Officers seized more than 3,600kg of drugs and precursor chemicals in 268 cases. Cannabis products made up the largest share. Most cases involved postal and courier parcels, and more parcels have been caught since the end of May, the agency says.

Operation Hydra, which targets postal and courier parcels, is still running. Over the last four months it has produced more than 200 cases and more than 3,800 parcels. The substances found in them include synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones, benzodiazepines, synthetic opioids, ecstasy, methamphetamine, GBL, kratom and DMT.

In joint operations with the chief directorate for combating organised crime (GDBOP), the interior ministry's border police, the State Agency for National Security (DANS) and other services, 11 drug-smuggling cases were stopped.

Customs seized 422,460ml of e-cigarette liquid this year, nearly 358,000ml of it between June and September.

Gold seizures over the period came to nearly 30kg of jewellery and other items plus 1.66kg of bars, and more than 15kg of silver. In June, July and August alone, officers seized more than 13.7kg of gold items and one 1kg bar. The agency says bars are a means of payment that can easily be turned into cash.

Counterfeit goods topped 6.6m items. Customs seized 32 small boats, all of them between June and September.

In total, officers worked on close to 5,000 customs, excise and currency offences and crimes over the nine months. These led to 4,600 administrative penalty proceedings and 260 pre-trial proceedings. More than 55% of them were opened after the new government and the new management of the Customs Agency took office.

Shipments of counterfeit goods are getting smaller, the agency says, to cut the risk for smugglers and make checks harder.