Similar story, Whilst I was doing my stint in the USSR, I had a rather large swiss Army knife in a leather case, most of the Guys I was supervising commented on how nice it was, and "could I get some more on my next visit to Helsinki" where we got all of our materials, B&Q hadn't reached Russia then, so anyway, next trip to Finland, Local tool shop had some fake Swiss Army gear in stock, so I thought why not I'll buy 5 and distribute them to the guys that had wanted them.
Finnish customs all went well no probs, but the Sovs different matter, " Ah sir weapons in your case", me "" no for my Sons"" "Ah but you only have 1 Son" took 4 and left me with 1, you couldn't make it up if you tried. The Cold War didn't you just love it??