Customs officials from the Department’s Anti-Money Laundering Tea, discovered more than 25,000 euros in undeclared cash on a passenger who was leaving for Turkey while screening passengers at Malta International Airport.

The Libyan passenger was boarding the flight when the gate was about to close.  When suspicious Customs Officials asked the passenger whether he was carrying any undeclared cash, he replied that he was indeed carrying undeclared cash, and that this was placed in his checked-in luggage.

The officials retrieved the luggage which was already stored in the plane and following a search, a total of 25,555 euro in cash was discovered.

10,000 euros were returned and the rest was seized as per EU and Maltese legislation. This legislation aims at tackling the movement of cash deriving from illicit trade and, every year, in  Europe alone, millions of euros of undeclared cash are seized most of which is en route to criminal organizations, the department said in a statement.