£818k Cash Stash Busted at Stansted Airport
Border Force officers stopped six Italian men just before they boarded a flight to Montenegro at Stansted Airport on 2 February 2019. Stuffed inside their checked luggage was a whopping £818,025 in cash.
Watch Dealers or Money Launderers?
The group – Pietro Doca, William Cerri, Giuseppino Anfosso, Giovanni Piazza, Angelo Inferrera, and Nicola Anfosso – insisted the money came from selling high-end watches like Rolexes and Audemars Piguets. But when grilled, they couldn’t produce a single receipt or bank statement. They also struggled to confirm how much the watches had sold for, despite claiming the sales happened the day before the haul was seized.
Adding to suspicion, the men claimed they were carrying only £676,000, yet officers found £142,025 more. The National Crime Agency (NCA) argued the cash was linked to money laundering or criminal activity.
Cash Courier Game: Dodging the Banks
The NCA believes the Italians were running cash for a third party, deliberately avoiding the banking system to dodge an audit trail. None of the group showed up at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on 10 March, where a judge ordered the entire haul, plus accrued interest and legal costs of £5,099.50, be forfeited.
“The accounts were given by these men regarding the origins of this cash just weren’t credible,” said NCA Branch Commander Mark Howes.
“Not only did they fail to declare the money, despite being given numerous opportunities to do so, but the way it had been stuffed into the suitcases clearly suggested it hadn’t come from a legitimate source.
The use of civil powers in cases like this allows us to target suspected criminal cash, which really helps deprive suspected criminals of their profits.”
