A court has heard how £40,000 of suspected criminal cash was seized from a passenger being transported in a taxi which was seen speeding on the M6 in north Cumbria.
Police announced on Friday that £360,000 in cash and also drugs potentially worth £230,000 had been seized by officers in the space of just three days last week.
This is part of Cumbria Constabulary’s continued bid to stop criminals profiting from the sale of illegal substances on the county’s streets.
But at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court, a financial investigator told how an additional £40,000 was found late last week as a Vietnamese man was being transported in a private hire vehicle.
This taxi was stopped while travelling south on the motorway close to Junction 41 near Penrith at what officers believed was excessive speed. The taxi had been legitimately hired from the Birmingham area with investigator saying that such journeys had been noted by police in the past.
The passenger was believed to be in the UK illegally. Despite not having a fixed address, he had since been released by immigration service staff.
The police investigator said in his address to district judge Timothy Gascoyne it was his belief that the £40,000 cash could be connected to crime.
He asked for the money to be formally detained in order that further enquiries about its origin could be made.
The district judge granted the application and police now have three months to continue their investigation.
