SOME €2.2 million in cash seized in ports and airports has been forfeited to the State so far this year.
Criminal gangs smuggling money out of the State to fund their members’ lifestyles abroad or to invest in drugs and other illegal activities are being detected at ports and airports in record numbers this year.
Since the start of the year Revenue’s customs officers have concluded 21 cash seizure cases in the courts, relating to €2.2 million in seized cash. The number of cases concluded this year compares with a previous high of eight in 2005.
In the first eight months of this year there were 31 new cash seizures, mostly at ports and airports, totalling €1.1 million. This compares with 34 cases in all of last year, totalling €1.35 million.
The biggest case concluded in the courts this year involved €676,000 in drug money. It was packed into a suitcase containing nothing but used bank notes.
However, just as it was about to be loaded on to an aircraft bound for Brussels to be delivered to an Irish drug dealer, it was intercepted at Dublin airport.
While drug dealing accounts for most of the cash seizures, other hauls represent the proceeds of a range of organised crime including prostitution, fuel laundering, cigarette smuggling and fraud.
Since legislative changes were introduced in 2005 and Revenue recruited more customs officers seizures have significantly increased.
Some €7.5 million has been seized since 2005, of which €3.4 million has been realised by the State on the completion of forfeiture High Court cases. Another 57 cases are still with the courts.
Before 2005, customs officers could only seize cash at ports and airports if they suspected it was linked to drug dealing. However, in February 2005 the Proceeds of Crime Act was amended, widening the scope for cash seizures to include the proceeds of any crime, not just drugs. The amendments also empowered customs officers to seize money in any location, not only ports and airports.
A number of major seizures have since been made at customs checkpoints established, for example, to detect laundered fuel.
One man stopped at a checkpoint on Dublin’s Naas Road, because customs suspected he had not paid VRT on an imported car, was found to be carrying £32,500.
A subsequent customs investigation found the money was the proceeds of a delivery of laundered fuel carried from Ireland to a client in the UK on two oil tanker trucks just days earlier.
When large sums of money are seized at ports, airports and elsewhere, customs must apply to the courts for permission to hold the cash for three months while investigating the origins of the seizure.
Those three-month periods can be extended to a maximum of two years. Before that timeframe elapses customs officers must go to the High Court and apply for a forfeiture order on the basis the seized cash is the proceeds of crime.
The case must be proven on the balance of probabilities, rather than beyond reasonable doubt.
The forfeited money is then transferred to State coffers.