Revenue officers at Shannon Airport seized €14,000 in cash, when they stopped and questioned a Chinese woman following routine profiling.
The woman, in her 20s, was boarding a flight to London Heathrow for onward travel to Hong Kong.
Revenue seized the cash, which was denominated in €50, €100, €200 and €500 notes, suspecting it to be the proceeds of, or intended for use in, criminal activity.
Today, at Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan granted a three month detention order to allow Revenue to investigate further. These investigations are ongoing.
Revenue officers have powers under the Criminal Justice Act, 1994, and the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act, 2005 to seize and detain cash suspected to be the proceeds of, or intended for use in, any criminal activity, at the point of import – export, or in the course of operations within the State.
In 2015, Revenue seized €1.6m. So far this year over €590k has been seized in 45 cases, and after follow-up Revenue investigations, the courts have granted Orders of Forfeiture to the State in respect of €487,000 cash seized.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.