Good Evening gents, (liking the new forum look)
Im looking for a bit of advice from anyone who has ordered from Tokyo, i received a letter today stating that my gas pistol has been seized by customs, now i have ordered from foreign countries in the past including an m4 and a l97 sniper rifle and never had problems. Had to pay a bit of tax but nothing major.

Now the paperwork i have received states that if i claim that the items are not liable to forfeiture, i must, within one month of the date shown above, give notice in writing of my claim to the office of uk border agency. stating my name and address. If i make such a claim within that time legal proceedings in a magistrate court will be taken from condemnation of the item. These are civil, rather than criminal, proceedings at which you or your legal representative should be present to show cause why the good should not be forfeited. it will then be a matter for the court to decide whether or not the goods are liable to forfeiture. The cour that is wholly independent of UKBA, will also decide the question of costs if no suck claim is made, the items will be deemed to have been duly condemned as forfeited.

You can ask us to consider returning the goods even if
+ you accept they were properly seized; or
+ You are challanging the seuizure; or
+ You have already challened the seizure and a condemnation hearing has confirmed that the items were properly seized; or
+The item limit for challenging the seizure has expired and the ownership of the items has automatically passed to customs.

If any one has had anything similar or can offer any words of advise id appreciate it im a bit miffed that my huge m4 and l96 sail straight through but my piddly little gas gun gets stopped but its a ridiculous world we live in.

couple of question's ,who did you purchase the pistol from and did the declare that the parcel it was sent in contained a rif ,if they did not (which ebaybanned do )then you can kiss it good bye.
seem's odd that they have out right seized it normally they ask if you have a defence to own it and that you are on the ukara database.

Khmountain, it was declared, i rang a number at the top of the letter i received, but no answer, left a message asking for a call back so i can ask why i wasn't asked if i am on Ukara.

This happened to me The information may not have been included in the parcel. Just give them your UKARA number and all should be fine.


On a side note after conversations I had the UKARA seem to have convinced customs that the only legal way to import RIF's is if your registered with them.

if you have a phone number for custom's keep ringing it till you get to speak to some one, like sneak say's custom's are convinced that if you are not on the ukara database then you are not allowed to import any kind of rif,which is not the case so just stay calm and answer all the silly pointless question that they ask and they should then releese your rif for delivery plus some additional cost for treating you like a criminal

muckymick wrote: plus some additional cost for treating you like a criminal

Yes the cost wasn't high enough to pay import tax so the B**tards charged me VAT instead.

muckymick wrote:plus some additional cost for treating you like a criminal

I laughed at this, its crazy that ill be charged for there mistake ill try em on Monday, thanks for the help with it gents ill let you know how i get on when i try to ring them on Monday.