Overview
- Customs at Berlin Brandenburg carried out about 662,000 checks in 2025 while the airport handled roughly 26 million passengers, the highest totals on record.
- The number of recorded violations rose by about 21 percent to over 9,200 in 2025, but the hit rate per check fell to 1.4 percent because controls increased so much.
- Drug detections fell in count from 731 in 2023 to 426 in 2025, yet total seized weights grew as single large consignments became common, including a 68 kg cannabis find in April 2025.
- Enforcement relies heavily on multi-skilled sniffer dogs trained for tobacco, cash, drugs and protected wildlife, and undeclared tobacco remained the most frequent offense while artenschutz cases rose to 88 in 2025.
- The pattern continued into 2026 when customs seized 16 kg of ketamine at BER in June and arrested a 22-year-old at the gate, showing that transit routes and bulk shipments remain a priority for checks.