Police have been given permission to seize £15,000 cash which was found in a vehicle being driven on the M6 to investigate whether it is linked to crime.
Officers stopped the vehicle as it travelled south near Carlisle on Wednesday afternoon of this week. It was in the middle lane with the driver having numerous chances to pull into lane one without doing so, the city’s magistrates’ court heard today.
As a result its 54-year-old driver, from the Wigan area, was spoken to and appeared in the opinion of officers to be nervous. An account he gave about his journey was in contrast to police intelligence and, amid officer suspicions, the vehicle was searched.
Around £15,000 was found inside a plastic bag wrapped in a jacket within a rear passenger footwell. It mainly comprised Scottish bank notes with the man saying this was from his savings and that he went to buy a car in Scotland.
“He said he swapped the money from English (notes),” a police financial investigator told the court. “He didn’t believe they would accept English notes north of the border.”
But the man then changed his story and admitted the money wasn’t actually his, signing a disclaimer to that effect.
Detention of the money was now being sought by police to carry out forensic tests — including fingerprinting — and also make further investigations about the driver’s journey.
After hearing the application, magistrates granted police four months to probe whether the cash originated from — or was destined for — involvement in criminal activity.
