Australian Border Force catch smugglers taking cash potentially for organised crime, terrorism
Cash smugglers are being caught stuffing rolls of bank notes into golf bags, socks and shoes that could have been earmarked for organised crime and terror plots.
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Exclusive: Thousands of international passengers have been caught collectively smuggling more than $37m in undeclared cash across Australia’s border during the past three years in breaches of counter-terrorism and anti-money-laundering laws.
The biggest bust was a traveller flying from Melbourne to Malaysia with $700,000 in cash in carry-on luggage.
Despite COVID-19 restrictions in place, six people were caught in July and August this year trying to smuggle $315,000 in bank notes.
Australian Border Force Commander of Ports Leo Lehay said deterring and disrupting financial border risks was an operational priority.
Mr Lehay is leading teams cracking down on potential money launderers at Australia’s ports.
He said they are using a mixture of sniffer dogs, x-ray machines and intelligence about passengers as well as profiling. Many detections are made by currency “sniffer dogs”.
In the past year the dogs found 417 people smuggling $10.5m of Australian cash, as well as foreign currencies.
“People smuggle cash for a reason, and those reasons can vary, but it would be unusual for someone to forget they are carrying more than $10,000 in cash,” Mr Lehay said.
“People who seek to evade reporting have a purpose.”
More than 2000 people since 2017 have had their cash confiscated.
The Australian Institute of Criminology and the Financial Action Taskforce has long warned that the tightening of reporting laws into suspicious transactions would push criminals engaged in money laundering and terrorism financing to avoid detection by moving undeclared cash across national borders.
There have a been a string of examples in past years of big busts, including a British man caught with $99,250 stuffed in a golf bag as he tried to fly from Perth to Thailand.
A man travelling from Sydney to Dubai was caught trying to smuggle more than $145,000 in undeclared currency.
The 40-year-old was leaving Sydney airport when selected by ABF officers for a baggage examination. They found $45,000 in undeclared bank notes in his hand luggage and more than $100,000 in two bags that had been checked in.
A Chinese couple was caught smuggling more than $100,000 into Australia from Beijing in the man’s jacket, the woman’s handbag and stuffed into socks in carry-on luggage.
A man was arrested with $72,464 in his hand luggage and also hidden in shoes in his checked-in baggage. It was alleged he planned to launder the money overseas by mixing it with legitimate funds from property sales.
In 2019, the Border Force Counter Terrorism Unit discovered more than $3.6m in undeclared cash that could have been earmarked for organised crime and terrorism-related activities.
Travellers can carry up to $10,000 into and out of Australia without declaring it.
But those who carry more than that must report it or face having the cash seized, being fined up $111,000 and spending up to two years in jail.
Border authorities have used detector dogs since 1969. The first currency dogs were introduced in 2013.
The currency sniffer dogs are trained to detect polymer notes, but through exposure to other currency also have the ability to detect foreign paper and cotton notes.
The biggest known currency bust by Border Force cash detector dogs was $6m during a raid with NSW Police on a home in Belmore.
Police removed kitchen cabinets and found 60 bundles of $100,000 in hundred-dollar notes.
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Originally published as Australian Border Force catch smugglers taking cash potentially for organised crime, terrorism