Spanish Police Confiscate €280,000 in Cash Stashed in Luggage

A couple travelling from Gran Canaria to Madrid were detained by police after security scanners at the airport picked up €280,000 cash stashed away in their luggage.

Agents of the Fiscal Detachment of the Guardia Civil at Gran Canaria Airport stopped the couple who were aiming to board a plane to Madrid with 280,000 euros in cash in their bags. Security Guards spotted the money on scanners as their bags went through a scanner, and couldn’t believe their eyes!

They immediately notified the Guardia Civil Security Detachment to verify the legality of the money the couple were carrying. This large amount of cash represents an infringement of Law 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering, capital, and terrorist financing, and means that border control can stop and seize it straight away- which they did.

After interviewing with the couple, and having reasonable doubts about the possible legality of the money, they proceeded to notify the Tax Office Detachment, a unit specializing in the fight against money laundering.

Once the couple were taken to the Fiscal Unit, the agents asked them several questions with the aim of determining the origin of the money. Suspicions were aroused as the  280,000 euros discovered was in 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 notes. “The very fact it is in small notes points towards the possibility it has come from the retail of narcotic substances or other illegal activities,” an agent said.

Due to the inconsistencies in the married couple’s responses, and the fact they couldn’t, or didn’t want to, justify the origin of the money, the agents denounced the facts as an infringement of Law 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, proceeding to the completion of the corresponding act, seizing the money and sending it to the Bank of Spain’s Money Laundering Prevention Service.

These money interventions are effective against criminal organizations dedicated mainly to human trafficking, specifically prostitution, or drug trafficking- but still, that must have hurt!