€350,000 found in car's spare tire; Dutch man arrested

Customs officers in Kolbenz, Germany found 350 thousand euros in cash hidden in the spare tire of a Dutch car last week. The driver, a 37-year-old Dutch man, was arrested and the cash was confiscated, the German customs authorities announced on Thursday.

The cash was discovered during a check on the A61 highway last week Thursday. 1,300 euros in cash was found in a backpack on the passenger seat, and the Dutch man, who said he was on his way to Italy, told the officers that he had no further cash on him.

During the search, the officers noticed that the spare tire was weirdly attached to the bottom of the car. As they couldn't get a look inside the tire, the officers called for an X-ray machine, which revealed the cash hidden inside.

"It does happen that you find drugs in the spare wheel of a vehicle, but cash has not yet been found in a spare wheel in our district," spokesperson Thomas Molitor of the customs office in Kolbenz said.

Koblenz is about 150 kilometers from the Dutch border, and about 75 kilometers south of Bonn, Germany.