Barcelona airport staff stunned after finding ONE MILLION euros hidden inside bin bags
Police confiscate more than 25,000 banknotes from pair of Chinese passengers travelling from Spain to Shanghai, China
POLICE at Barcelona airport have found more than ONE MILLION euros hidden in rubbish bags.
This is the largest ever amount of money uncovered by the Civil Guard in 2016 at the busy international El Prat.
A total of 1,088,050 euros (£918,000) was recovered, including a heap of 18,268 50euro banknotes.
Cops found the hidden stash whilst checking the luggage of two Chinese citizens who were planning to catch a flight to Shanghai in China.
"The suitcases were being scanned when the Civil Guard saw they appeared to contain a great deal of money," said an airport spokesman.
The two cases were impounded while officer tracked down their owners.
One of the bags was found to contain 547,650 euros and the other 542,400 euros hidden between clothes and wrapped in rubbish bags.
In total, there were more than 25,000 notes in values ranging from 10 euros to 500 euros.
The two Chinese citizens – one aged 26 and the other 27, and both living in Valencia – had failed to declare the money to customs officials.
The huge haul was confiscated under the laws against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
There was, at least, some compensation for the seriously broke culprits.
Under current legislation in Spain, they were given to each 1,000 euros for their "minimum survival".
The Guardia Civil regularly release videos and pictures of their biggest busts.
In October, they released images and footage after smashing a smuggling ring which hid drugs inside crates of oranges.
Raids were held in Malaga and Seville, southern Spain, after a van carrying more than 1,000kg of cannabis was stopped at a motorway checkpoint.
The gang set up two import-export firms and hid drugs inside vacuum-packed containers in the middle of the cargoes.
A spokesman said: “Their way of working made detection by sniffer dogs more difficult.”
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