In Estonia, gold coins seized at the border crossing will be sold at auction

The Estonian Tax and Customs Administration will auction gold coins worth about €390 thousand (more than 37 million rubles at the current exchange rate of the Central Bank). The coins were seized at the Luhamaa checkpoint on the Russian-Estonian border, the ministry’s press service said.

In August 2025, during the inspection of the truck arrived at the border point, customs officers found 157 gold coins hidden in the back with a total weight of about 4.8 kg. Law enforcement officers opened a criminal case on suspicion of attempting to violate sanctions.

“Since the proceedings failed to establish the owner of the coins, the court allowed them to be confiscated in favour of the state. The approximate value of gold coins at the time of crossing the border was €390,000, it said.

The coins will be auctioned in small quantities. The filing deadline for the first eight gold coins is October 14.

Lots of eight gold coins are available on the Estonian auction platform Osta.ee. Three of them (€3,775,000 each) feature kangaroos made by the Australian Mint in Perth between 2020 and 2025. Another five coins with a total starting price of €18.25 thousand were issued by the Austrian mint Münze Österreich in 2025, they are dedicated to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Earlier, the Estonian state broadcaster ERR reported that on October 7, an Estonian citizen illegally crossed the border with Russia with banned currency. During the inspection at the checkpoint “Koidula” he found rubles and euros in cash. The man was informed that the transfer of this money is prohibited, after which he ran towards the border with Russia and climbed over the fence.