Police have been granted time to investigate whether large sums of cash seized from two motorists near Penrith are linked to criminal activity.
A financial investigator told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court today how police spoke to the driver of one car on Thursday afternoon of last week after his vehicle was pulled over on the M6 southbound. It had been travelling in lane two but hadn’t moved into the nearside lane.
After he gave two different stories to officers, the car was searched. Around £17,000 cash was recovered, along with an additional £1,000 from the 38-year-old driver himself which he claimed were painter and decorator wages.
As police dealt with that stop, another vehicle drove past which was stopped by traffic colleagues who had learned there was no MoT certificate.
During this second separate incident, bags of cash — including one tied to the gear stick — totalling an estimated £23,000 were found.
That driver, aged 52, provided conflicting accounts about where the money had come from.
After hearing from the investigator, magistrates concluded there were reasonable grounds for suspicion.
Police now have two and four months respectively, to make enquiries about the origin of the money seized.
