Money seized from airport passenger
An investigation was launched
CASH has been seized from an air passenger at East Midlands Airport.
A 30-year-old man was stopped at the Castle Donington airport as he headed for his Poland bound flight.
He told the ports officers that he had £1,990 cash on him, which he claimed to have earnt, cash in hand, working as a builder.
He also said he’d withdrawn it from his bank account, but couldn’t remember his national insurance number.
The cash was seized on the suspicion that he had failed to declare income to HMRC and an investigation was launched by East Midlands Special Operations Unit’s Disruption Team.
It was found that he hadn’t declared any earnings since 2016 and there were no records of the cash withdrawals – in fact he’d never had that amount of cash in his account.
The builder never engaged with the investigation and didn’t turn up to the forfeiture hearing, resulting in the order being granted at court.
Hannah Stovin, Disruption Team manager, said: “This is another great example of the work that we continue to do across the region and how effective our collaborative efforts with partners such as Border Force can be.
“This isn’t out of the ordinary for us, we will continue to have an unscheduled presence at the airport and be ready to investigate when stories don’t quite add up.”
Martin Hendy, Border Force Deputy Director for Central Region, said: “Depriving criminals of their wealth disrupts organised crime, which is why Border Force officers work with law enforcement colleagues to tackle the flow of illicit funds. Any cash forfeited is returned to the public purse.”
He added that this highlighted the excellent and productive working relationships that made a real and tangible difference to the East Midlands public.