On Saturday, November 7, 2020, Hekuran Halili, 70, of Barking, Essex, was a passenger in a car stopped by Border Force officers at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Folkestone.

Officers were told that Mr Halili and the vehicle’s driver were on their way to Belgium to deliver furniture to a friend. However, both men were discovered to be carrying more money than they had initially declared, including several bundles of banknotes sewn into the driver’s jacket lining.

Due to this suspicious behaviour, Kent Police were notified, and a total of just over £28,000 was seized and later forfeited using Proceeds of Crime Act legislation.

Mr Halili objected to the forfeiture of his share of the cash, £9,258, but did not appear at a hearing at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 19 July 2022, when the forfeiture order was granted in his absence. In addition, he was ordered to pay £2,000 in court costs.

While neither Mr Halili nor his associate were ever charged with any criminal offences in relation to this incident, they were unable to provide any verifiable evidence as to why they were carrying such large sums of money across the border,’ said Detective Inspector Dave Godfrey of Kent Police’s Economic Crime Unit.

‘Our financial investigators use the Proceeds of Crime Act on a regular basis to ensure that money earned illegally cannot be used to fund further criminal activity, and to reinforce the important message that crime does not pay.’