German customs officers seized a US$1.2 million violin from a Japanese professional musician and are demanding she pay almost US$500,000 to get it back, reports said yesterday.
Belgium-based Yuzuko Horigome was transiting through Frankfurt Airport last week after performing in Japan, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper said.
When she tried to walk through the green gate for travellers arriving in the EU with nothing to declare, customs officers stopped her and said she needed to pay €190,000 (HK$1.8 million) in duty on her 1741 Guarnerius violin. On top of this were fines, taking the total cost to €380,000, the Tokyo Shimbun said.
Customs confiscated the valuable instrument because she could not provide the documents for her 1986 purchase, the Yomiuri said.
"The instrument is a tool for my work. For musicians, instruments are like parts of your bodies," she told the newspaper. "I have used Frankfurt Airport many times and never had problems like this before. I don't know why this happened."
She has since submitted documents to prove her ownership of the violin, but negotiations have been "difficult", the Asahi Shimbun said.