Hanover customs seized a total of almost 2 metric tons of drugs during its investigations in northern Germany last year.
Presenting its annual review for 2025 on Thursday, the agency said that the past year had been a “labour-intensive year for investigations.”
The seized drugs, including cannabis and narcotics, represent a record high over the past 10 years, they said.
In particular, customs officers have recently been seizing cannabis more frequently. In 2025, a total of 1.5 tons were seized, compared with just 265 kilograms of the drug the previous year.
In addition, customs investigators reported seizing around 9 million illegal cigarettes, just under 10 tons of smoking tobacco and almost 7 tons of hookah tobacco in 2025.
They also found more than 44,000 items of pyrotechnics and eleven kilograms of explosives, and just under 40,000 prohibited medicines in tablet form
"The high sums involved and the professional approach of the criminal groups clearly demonstrate the significant impact this form of crime has on the state, the economy and society," Monika Dennhardt, head of the Hanover Customs Investigation Office said in a statement. "This makes consistent prosecution all the more important."
The Hanover Customs Investigation Office, with a total of around 300 employees, is responsible for large parts of northern Germany.
It has branch offices in Bremen, Magdeburg and Bielefeld.
