German man faces Russian prison term for alleged gold-smuggling

BERLIN (Reuters) -A German man caught trying to smuggle over 90 million roubles' ($982,500.00) worth of gold into Russia faces up to five years in prison, the local customs authority in Pskov said.

Customs officials and FSB officers stopped the 58-year-old who was allegedly carrying 13 kilograms of gold bars in his motor home, the authority said in a Telegram post on Monday.

Pskov is a city located some 20 kilometres from Russia's border with Estonia.

The German foreign office said it was aware of the case and that the individual had been offered consular assistance by Germany's consulate general in St Petersburg.

A criminal case has been opened, the Pskov customs authority said. Alongside a custodial sentence, the man could also face a fine of up to 1 million roubles.

The detention of Western citizens in Russia, including some German nationals recently freed as part of a multi-country prisoner swap, has become an increasingly fraught topic against the backdrop of Russia's war in Ukraine.

($1 = 91.6000 roubles)

(Reporting by Rachel More in Berlin, Editing by Miranda Murray)

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