Civil Guard seizes €195,000 hidden under car seats in Albacete
A Ukrainian citizen was reported after €195,000 in undeclared funds were found hidden under the seats of his vehicle on the A-31 motorway in Chinchilla de Montearagón.
€195,000 hidden under seats: Civil Guard intercepts car on A-31
According to ABC, officers from the Citizen Security Unit (Usecic) of the Civil Guard headquarters in Albacete seized €195,000 in cash from a Ukrainian citizen who was transporting the money without declaring it, concealed under the seats of the vehicle in which he was travelling.
The operation was carried out on the A-31 motorway in the municipal district of Chinchilla de Montearagón (Albacete). Usecic officers identified the driver, the sole occupant of the vehicle, as his behaviour raised suspicions.
The dog 'Pompa' marks the discovery
Following the identification, Civil Guard officers proceeded to search the driver's belongings and the interior of the vehicle, with the assistance of a cash detection dog from the Body's Canine Service. It was Pompa, a Belgian Malinois shepherd dog, who marked with insistence among the car seats, with unmistakeable signs of the presence of cash.
The subsequent inspection made it possible to locate three bags hidden under the seats. Inside them were €195,000 in banknotes of various denominations. The vehicle owner was unable to establish the legal origin of the money, so the amount was seized under Law 10/2010.
Report for administrative breach
As it exceeded €100,000—the maximum limit allowed for transporting cash without declaration within Spanish territory—the Civil Guard filed an administrative report against the person identified as the owner of the money, for alleged breach of Law 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. The authorities are now investigating the origin of the seized funds.
Obligation to declare: the S1 form
The Civil Guard reminds that any person transporting more than €100,000 in cash within Spain must accompany the money with the S1 document, called a "declaration of payment methods". Its absence may result in the seizure of the money, the opening of a police investigation and the initiation of a sanctioning procedure.
For cross-border movements, the mandatory declaration threshold is reduced to €10,000. The S1 form is available on the Sepblac website, on the website of the General Secretariat of the Treasury and International Financing (tesoro.es) and on the website of the State Tax Administration Agency (aeat.es).
Source: ABC