A woman caught at Perth Airport with more than $170,000 in cash allegedly concealed under her clothing has been charged by the AFP with dealing with the suspected proceeds of crime.
The 45-year-old West Australian woman was stopped at the domestic airport on Friday morning after security screening allegedly identified anomalies.
Airport security staff alerted the AFP and officers questioned and searched the woman, before seizing the currency which was in various denominations.
Police will allege the woman was planning to travel to Sydney with the hidden cash and is yet to show how the money was legally obtained.
AFP investigators executed a search warrant at the woman’s Midland home where they allegedly found about $50,000 cash, quantities of methamphetamine, heroin and cannabis and three home-made Taser devices. Inquiries are continuing into the items found.
AFP Detective Sergeant Tom Blakeley said the AFP worked closely with security services at the nine designated airports around Australia to target travellers on both domestic and international flights and make sure they were not using transit routes for criminal activities.
“Unexplained sources of cash are often a sign of underlying criminal activity and the AFP will put people before court to justify that wealth,” he said.
“This arrests shows that as travel returns to pre-COVID levels, the AFP and our law enforcement partners across Australia and around the world are ensuring airports remain a hostile environment for criminal syndicates.”
The woman will next appear in Perth Magistrate’s Court on January 13th next year.
The AFP encourages the public to call Airport Watch on 131 237 if they see or hear something unusual while working or travelling through one of the nation’s major airports.
