A passenger with more than USD 60,000 in banknotes strapped around his waist has been seized by police in Colombia.
The man had just got off a Cucuta-Bogota flight at El Dorado airport in the Colombian capital Bogota when security agents grew suspicious after he went through security with a slight bulge showing up on the X-ray scanner.
The authorities decided to look a little closer and they found USD 60,950 (GBP 50,500), which is COP 286,924,563, enough to buy an apartment in the country according to local media, strapped to his body with lycra.
The man, named as Johan Andres Baquero Duran, was reportedly unable to explain to the police where the money, in USD 50 and USD 100 bills, had come from.
Cops reportedly speculated that he might be working for organised crime working near the border with Venezuela and that he may have been involved in a money-laundering operation between Colombia and Venezuela.
It was unclear at the time of writing if the suspect had been formally charged. The investigation is ongoing.
In another case, an unnamed man who was riding a motorcycle through the streets of Bogota was intercepted by the police after receiving a tip-off.
They found COP 913,239,000 (GBP 158,230) in cash on him. According to the Anti-Narcotics Police, this money is suspected of having been used as part of an operation to launder assets of a network that commits crimes between Colombia and the United States.
Both the suspects will answer for crimes of money laundering with the underlying crime of drug trafficking, according to the police.
