Customs officials in Stuttgart, Germany, have seized and destroyed 250 counterfeit Galaxy S4 handsets that were set to go on sale in Europe. The devices were picked up at the airport as they entered the country, then demolished one-by-one with a hammer.

Stuttgarter-Nachrichten reports that the authorities became suspicious of the shipment after its owner claimed it contained $2,000 worth of cable. When they began opening up the packages, they found hundreds of fake Galaxy S4 smartphones that had been manufactured in Hong Kong.

The smartphones were on their way to Georgia, but to ensure they were no use to anybody, custom officials reportedly destroyed every single one of them before they left the airport. If they were genuine devices, they would have been worth €150,000 ($205,476).

The officials are now trying to establish whether this was a one-off shipment or part of a wider network of counterfeit goods being distributed throughout Europe. Whatever the case may be, German authorities are likely to make it harder for shipments like this to make their way through the country in future.

• SourceStuttgarter-Nachrichten
• ViaSamMobile