German Customs to Destroy $200,000 Flipper Zero Shipment Due to Sanctions

The Flipper Zero project team has announced that a shipment of their devices—consisting of pre-orders and Kickstarter orders—previously held up at German customs without explanation or timeline, will be destroyed due to sanctions.

Back in November, one of the creators of the “hacker Tamagotchi,” Pavel Zhovner, reported in his Telegram channel about the delayed shipment sent to Russia via Russian Post. At the time, he mentioned that customs was conducting an additional inspection, but the reasons and expected completion date were not disclosed.

Now, according to an update in the same Telegram channel, the developers have received an official response from customs and learned that the shipment, valued at $200,000, will be destroyed “without return or compensation.”

“Since the Flipper Zero product falls under EU export sanctions restricting Russia’s access to advanced technologies such as drones and drone software, encryption software, semiconductors, and advanced electronics,” explained Pavel Zhovner.

He clarified that the shipment was sent through Germany by Russian Post: “They have a logistics hub in Germany and operate this way because direct cargo shipments to Russia haven’t worked properly for a long time—guess why.”

The remaining orders for Russian customers will be attempted to be sent “through another scheme,” but the Flipper Zero team is not yet confident that this will work.

It’s worth noting that Flipper Zero previously faced issues with PayPal: the developers were unable to access $1.3 million because the funds were frozen in a PayPal account that was blocked without explanation. Ultimately, they managed to recover 74% of the funds ($980,000), although PayPal continues to hold $350,000 “to mitigate possible claims.” The team noted that “all orders paid with this money have long since been delivered.”