Arnold Schwarzenegger made a saucy joke about being handcuffed after he was detained at an airport in Germany.

Arnold Schwarzenegger made light of his brush with the law during an appearance at a charity event

Arnold Schwarzenegger made light of his brush with the law during an appearance at a charity event

'The Terminator' star, 76, flew into Munich from Los Angeles on Wednesday (17.01.24) and was held by customs officers for several hours after they inspected his luggage and found a custom-made watch from Swiss brand Audemars Piguet in his bag worth more than $21,000.

He was later released and allowed to continue on to Kitzbühel, Austria where he was due to sell off the watch at a fund-raising event for his Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, and during his turn on stage at the event on Thursday (18.01.24) the actor made light of his experience - joking he was actually put in cuffs by his girlfriend Heather Milligan, 49.

Schwarzenegger told the audience at the event: "You always start things with a lot of drama and that's what we saw yesterday. I mean can you believe that all of a sudden I was in handcuffs. I was in handcuffs.

"Not because of the watch or because of the customs office, but I had a hot night with my girlfriend Heather last night. I mean it was unbelievable."

Schwarzenegger went on to add: "No but seriously, the woman there, the customs officer said: 'If you don't behave, I'm going to put you in handcuffs'. And I said: 'Hey, that's ok. That's a great deal because usually pay $500 for that."

However, the movie star wasn't done with jokes about his brush with the law, adding: "But anyway this was a wild experience, I can tell you that because you try to bring this great watch ... very special watch.

"And now they find it, in the luggage then the guy's looking for a second watch. He couldn't find it. Because I was hiding it. But I can't tell you where because I cannot sit down today."

The watch was sold during the charity auction for $293,000, according to TMZ.com.

German newspaper Bild reported Schwarzenegger was questioned for nearly four hours and was allegedly slapped with a €35,000 fine for failing to declare the watch.

A source told New York Post column PageSix: "[Schwarzenegger was] never asked to fill out a declaration form and he answered every question from customs officers honestly.

"He cooperated at every step even though it was an incompetent shakedown, a total comedy of errors that would make a very funny cop movie.”