In early March 2026, officers of the Hauptzollamt Berlin, the city’s main customs office, checked a shisha shop in the Schöneberg district and found untaxed vapes on the sales counter.[1] They opened a criminal case against the owner of the shop.[1] An employee who was there refused them access to the storeroom.[1] The Berlin public prosecutor’s office immediately obtained a search warrant.[1]

In the storeroom the officers found seven kilograms of cannabis, 17 kilograms of untaxed shisha tobacco, 24,436 untaxed vapes and 27,899 tins of banned nicotine pouches, known as snus.[1] The Hauptzollamt said those goods had already been seized in Berlin by early March.[1] With the Zollfahndungsamt Berlin-Brandenburg, the customs investigation office for Berlin and Brandenburg, officers then obtained a warrant for the owner’s home and storage rooms.[1] There they seized a large quantity of untaxed vapes and banned nicotine pouches and took them out of circulation.[1] The banned and untaxed goods were confiscated.[1]

The Zollfahndungsamt Berlin-Brandenburg is continuing the investigation.[1] Officers found a large quantity of untaxed vapes and banned nicotine pouches in the owner’s living and storage rooms as well.[2]