Some €1.5 mil. seized in Schiphol money laundering investigations

Almost 1.5 million euros in cash was seized in five money laundering investigation launched at Schiphol Airport in June, the Public Prosecutor announced on Thursday. Several suspects will soon have to answer in court. On June 21st, a Colombian woman and her son were arrested at the airport for trying to smuggle 300 thousand euros in cash to Colombia. The 51-year-old woman swallowed bulbs of money to the value of almost 100 thousand euros. Her 25-year-old son had 200 thousand euros inside him. The money had to surgically be removed from the son. The Public Prosecutor believes they acted on someone else's orders. Nevertheless, they are in custody and will appear in court on September 23rd. Earlier that month, on June 12th, two women from Lithuania were arrested at the airport after nearly 475 thousand euros were discovered hidden in four aerosol cans they had on them. The women, age 32 and 22 years, were on their way to Ecuador. They cooperated with the authorities, telling them that they've smuggled money to South America a number of times. They were released from custody under strict conditions and must face the court on September 23rd. Also in June a 43-year-old pilot from a Colombian airline was arrested at the airport. Almost 475 thousand euros were found hidden in a secret compartment in his suitcase, underneath his uniform. He claims that he was carrying it for someone else. He will appear in court on October 3rd. The Public Prosecutor has yet to decide how to proceed in two other cases. The first involves a Nigerian caught with almost 92 thousand euros while traveling from Italy to Nigeria. The second suspect is a Russian who arrived in the Netherlands from Greece on June 14th with 150 thousand euros hidden in socks.