German Customs

German customs uses the following abbreviations:
GER = Gemeinsame Ermittlungsgruppe Rauschgift = joint police/customs drug task force (permanent unit)
OEZ = Observationseinheit Zoll (customs surveillance unit), they are part of the investigation service
MKG = Mobile Kontrollgruppe = mobile control unit (they wear uniform)
S-Trupp = Sondertrupp = Contraband Enforcement Team (they wear uniform also)
ZKom = Zollkommissariat = customs (border) patrol unit (they wear uniform), they patrol the border between border crossings.
Patches for the GER's and OEZ's are more social patches / giveaways, while the other patches and badges are actually worn on or with the uniform, even if they are not official.
The white patch is the one worn on PT shirts (I'm not aware that anyone wears them any longer, but however ....)
The blue WEU (West European Union) patch used to be worn by customs and police officers who were part of the units enforcing the embargo towards Yugoslavia in the early 90's. They were deployed at all the border crossings to Yugoslavia and on the river Danube to support and advise the local (Hungarian, Bulgarian, etc.) officers.

	German Customs Service This is the official customs insignia, (Zoll = Customs). Worn on the uniform of Land Customs Officers. Official Issue
	German Customs Service This is a special version of our regular customs patch. It's not woven like the other ones, but embroidered. Thus it's much thicker, heavier and more expensive than the regular ones. I think it can only be worn on the blazer. Scan proudly supplied by Dieter Wurche of Germany. Official Issue
	German Customs Service This one has a yellow/golden eagle and "Zoll" which is worn by the officers of the water service. Patch is coloured dark blue. Sorry for the poor condition of the scan, if anyone can supply a better scan, please let me know via email. Thanks! Official Issue
	German Customs Breast Hanger This is the breast hanger seen on the German Customs uniform. Now deemed to be obsolete and it's wear is no longer authorised. Official Issue
	German Customs Dog Handler - Version 1 "Dienstundefuhrer" - for dog handlers, who themselves and whose dogs don't have any special training as drug or explosive sniffer dogs (or handlers).
	German Customs Dog Handler - Version 2 "Dienstundelehrwart" - an officer who is qualified to train dog handlers and dogs.
	German Customs Dog Handler - Version 3 "RSpH-Fuhrer" Drug Dog handler
	German Customs Dog Handler - Version 4 "SpSpH-Fuhrer" Explosive Ordinance dog Handler
	German Customs K9 patch
	German Customs - Potsdam The patch is from the Customs investigations in Potsdam, in the federal county Brandenburg near Berlin
	German Customs - Hamburg
	German Customs - Hamburg Semi -official. Apparently this patch can only be worn on the field uniform or coveralls S-Trupp = Sondertrupp = Contraband Enforcement Team
	German Customs - Hamburg
	German Customs - Hamburg Only difference between this patch and the one above is the yellow colouring of the star under the word "Polizei"
	German Customs - Hamburg
	German Customs - Hamburg
	German Customs - Frankfurt Autobahn Border Crossing Location: Frankfurt/Oder is a bordertown in the federal county Brandenburg at the border between Germany and Poland. Oder is the name of the river, in Frankfurt/Oder is the river the borderline. This unit is responsible for drug and illegal immigration traffic. The unit only has 9 agents in it. Thanks to Jim H Crumpacker for this scan and Peter Andres for the information on this patch.
	German Customs - "ZUZ" stands for Zentrale Unterstützungsgruppe Zoll, they are located at the criminal investigations HQ (ZKA) at Cologne and are a SWAT unit.
	German Customs - Hamburg Surveillance Unit OEZ = Observationseinheit Zoll (customs surveillance unit), they are part of the investigation service
	German Customs - Freiburg Customs Investigation
	Former East Germany - Customs Armband
	GER = Gemeinsame Ermittlungsgruppe Rauschgift = joint police/customs drug task force (permanent unit)
	GER = Gemeinsame Ermittlungsgruppe Rauschgift = joint police/customs drug task force (permanent unit)
	GER = Gemeinsame Ermittlungsgruppe Rauschgift = joint police/customs drug task force (permanent unit)
	GER = Gemeinsame Ermittlungsgruppe Rauschgift = joint police/customs drug task force (permanent unit)
	K-9 Frankfurt Airport
	ZKom = Zollkommissariat = customs (border) patrol unit (they wear uniform), they patrol the border between border crossings.
	MKG = Mobile Kontrollgruppe = mobile control unit (they wear uniform)
	OEZ = Observationseinheit Zoll (customs surveillance unit), they are part of the investigation service
	GASt S I Location: unknown, this Gast S must have contact to the highway / motorway / Autobahn and belongs to the Zollkommissariat Sued (customs commissariat south) This patch is from a Grenzaufsichtsstelle S / Sondertrupp / S - Trupp (special customs squad). The "I" means "one" (Roman numeral). There are as many as four variations of this particular patch, or there may be fur separate squads.
	S-Trupp Furth im Wald Location: Furth im Wald is a town in the federal county Bavaria near the border between Germany and the Czech Republik. S-Trupp is the short form of Sondertrupp / Grenzaufsichtstelle S (customsspecial squad).
	Sondertrupp Selb Location: Selb is a town in Bavaria near the border between Germany and the Czech Republik. Sondertrupp = S - Trupp / Grenzaufsichtstelle S (customs special squad)

	Sondertrupp Waldsassen Location: Waldsassen is a town in Bavaria near the border between Germany and the Czech Republik Sondertrupp = S - Trupp / Grenzaufsichtstelle S (customs special squad)
	Überwachungsgruppe Rauschgift Flughafen Köln/Bonn Location: Airport Köln/Bonn Permanent group. Drug surveillance group. You have another patch of a Überwachungsgruppe in your collection, this is the patch of the Überwachungsgruppe Hamburg. They do the same job.
	The blue WEU (West European Union) patch used to be worn by customs and police officers who were part of the units enforcing the embargo towards Yugoslavia in the early 90's. They were deployed at all the border crossings to Yugoslavia and on the river Danube to support and advise the local (Hungarian, Bulgarian, etc.) officers. WEU Operation - a very unusual shoulder patch used by a joint international Police and Customs Task Force which blockaded the River Duna at Mohacs during 1995 in order to prevent munitions and other contraband being smuggled into Serbia. The German effort was a combined group of Customs (Zoll) and Federal Border Police (BGS), Netherlands (NL) Customs and Police, Customs Italy, Customs Luxembourg (Lux). Thanks to both Dieter Wurche and Hinrich Schulze for the information on this particular patch
	Joint Operation patch between German Customs (Zoll, bottom left), Netherlands Customs (Douane NL Police, top left) Italian Customs (Guardia di Finanza, top right) and Luxembourg Customs (Douanes Lux, bottom right)

	Zoll (white patch) with the colours of Germany Location: All uniformed officers in Germany. We use this official patch on our sportswear (on the sweatshirt and on the t-shirt). I saw this patch also on the orange rain jacket. For the shorts we have a small patch, German flag with ZOLL, ~ 3 cm x 5 cm.
	Küstenwache Location: On sea. Patch of the German coastguard. Cooperation between the German water customs, the German border police (Bundesgrenzschutz See) and the German shipping authorities. This patch is in official use
	Green badge This is the official badge from the uniform cap of the frontier customs service and the mobile control units.
	Blue badge with eagle This is the official badge from the water customs service.
	German customs armband, not in use anymore (unless still locally used), worn either by criminal investigators or other non-uniformed officers when they needed to be identified as customs officers.
	More recent version of above shoulder slide.
	A new version of the joint police/customs drug task force patch in Dresden (capital of the state of Saxony)
	Slip-on for the German customs long coat. This coat is only worn at official ceremonies, not for daily duty
	Mobile Kontrollgruppe Location: Location unknown. The patch contains the logo of a Autobahn / highway / motorway. Mobile control unit. Designed by the members of the mobile control unit saarlouis. It is a universal patch for all mobile control units
	Dresden Surveillance patch
	Mobile Kontroll Group Frankfurt - Designed by Marko and Martin Simon in 1996 Marko Frick collection
	Customs Special Squad / Contraband Enforcement Team / Zoll-Sondertrupp based in Wilhelmshaven. The patch shows a vessel, eagle and a cannabis leaf. GAStS is the short for Grenzaufsichtsstelle S
	Zoll Stuttgart
	Kutasi Csaba collection
	Kutasi Csaba collection
	German Democratic Customs collar insignia Peter Andres collection
	Kutasi Csaba collection
	Kutasi Csaba collection
	OEZ Karlsruhe, Southwest of Germany
	Zollamt Weil-Friedlingen Left side of the patch, the red - yellow colours of the district from South Baden where lies the town of Weil, on the right side of the patch, City of Weil. Ralf Wolfsperger collection
	Patch of the MKG Berlin Germany Carsten Kunow collection
	Patch of the MKG Kiel Germany - prototype only Carsten Kunow collection
	Alternate patch for the MKG Kiel Germany Carsten Kunow collection
	Alternate patch for the MKG Kiel Germany Carsten Kunow collection
	Sondertrupp patch for the ZKOM Zwiesel, Germany Carsten Kunow collection

German Customs Badges

	German Customs Identification Badge - Front The identification number has been removed on purpose at the request of the owner.
	German Customs Identification Badge - Rear This is the rear of the above identification badge.
	Former East German Customs Identity disc - Front
	Former East German Customs Identity Disc - Rear
	World War 2 era German Customs badge
	World War 2 era German Customs badge
	Martin from Slovakia collection
	German Customs - Pocket Hangers (Silver Zoll & Eagle)
	German Customs - Pocket Hangers (Gold Zoll & Eagle)
	Carsten Kunow collection
	Detail of the Zoll Badge Carsten Kunow collection
	German Customs - Pocket Hangers (Waffenwesen - presumably weapons group)?? From what I have been told these are apparently semi - official and are apparently a bit hard to come by.
	Waffenwessen close up view Carsten Kunow collection
	German Customs - Pocket Hangers (Zollhundefuhrer - Detector Dog Instructor) From what I have been told these are apparently semi - official and are apparently a bit hard to come by.

	Mobile Control Group - Berlin
	Version 1 MKG Berlin - close up Carsten Kunow collection
	Version 1 MKG Berlin - close up Carsten Kunow collection


	Breast badge worn by officers at any of the three Berlin airports Tegel, Tempelhof & Schönefeld.
	Close up of above badge Carsten Kunow collection
	This a fairly new bi-national information centre staffed by police and customs from both countries.
	Breast badge for officers in the passenger clearance section of the Main Customs Office Frankfurt/Main Airport
	Breast badge for officers with the customs border patrol unit Linken (Polish border)
	Martin from Slovakia collection
	Martin from Slovakia collection
	German Customs hat badge
	Karlsruhe close up of badge Carsten Kunow collection