Arnold Schwarzenegger was briefly detained by airport customs.
The 76-year-old actor was held at Munich airport Wednesday for three hours over his luxury watch.
Munich customs spokesman Thomas Meister told outlet Bild that their agency had “initiated criminal tax proceedings” because the watch – which was technically an “import” – “should have been registered” first.
The piece of contested jewelry is reportedly from Swiss brand Audemars Piguet and worth over $21,000.
A source further explained to Page Six that Munich customs believed the Terminator star “might be auctioning” the watch – which “he owns” – at his charity in Kitzbuhel, Austria.
The outlet further reported that Schwarzenegger was “never asked to fill out a declaration form and he answered every question from customs officers honestly.”
Owing to his “[cooperation] at every step,” the entire ordeal was resolved quickly.
Photographs obtained by Bild showed Schwarzenegger calm and collected despite being subjected to what the source labeled “an incompetent shakedown, a total comedy of errors that would make a very funny cop movie.”
In the end, Schwarzenegger reportedly “agreed” to pre-pay potential taxes on the watch despite the fact that it was his personal property.
Though he “initially took the interrogation fairly calmly,” the "time and the procedure got on his nerves.”
The reason he was detained for a few hours was because the credit card machine they were using had issues and the amount needed exceeded the cash available at the ATM. To top it off, all banks were already closed.
However, they were finally able to get a machine to work and Schwarzenegger was released.