Swiss retailer gets stiffed as hand sanitizer seized at Italian border

A Swiss retailer is crying foul after a truckload of hand sanitizer it had ordered was commandeered by Italian customs officers.

The shipment of disinfectant gel, purchased by Victory Switzerland GmbH for 32,000 euros ($34,800), was stopped by officials on March 30, according to Daniel Gerber, the company’s managing director.

“I am not aware of any compensation for us,” Gerber said.

Italy confirmed the seizure in an April 3 statement, saying officials were authorized to confiscate individual protection devices and sanitary equipment considered essential in the coronavirus pandemic.

The capture of the Swiss-bound cargo is just the latest example of countries moving to secure medical supplies, sanitary items and essential goods for their own citizens amid the global pandemic.

U.S. President Donald Trump slammed 3M Co. for shipping respirator masks to countries including Canada after he had invoked the Defense Production Act to ban the export of supplies to fight the virus. On Monday, he said he had reached a deal with 3M to provide an additional 55.5 million mask to U.S. health-care workers.

Other countries including Kazakhstan and Vietnam have started hoarding some food exports.

Gerber said he tried to contact Germany-based Beauty Service International GmbH, from which it ordered the hand-gel, to get its money back but has yet to hear from them. Beauty Service didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

A spokeswoman for Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said it’s aware of the case and is in contact with authorities in Italy. The SECO isn’t aware of similar cases at the Italian border, she said.

Victory Switzerland’s Gerber said the company also had a shipment of more than 300,000 face masks halted at the Swiss-German border about two weeks ago, which was released after a couple of days.