By Elizabeth Hearst for AMLi
A British woman has been jailed for 34 months after she was discovered with five suitcases stuffed with nearly £2 Million in cash, at Heathrow Airport.
Tara Hanlon, pleaded guilty in June to money laundering offences worth more than £5 Million, after she was arrested in October 2020 as she tried to board a flight to Dubai.
UK officials have stated it was the largest individual cash seizure at the UK border in 2020, according to the BBC.
Hanlon was arrested after being stopped by customs officials when travelling with a friend to Dubai. When asked why she had checked-in five suitcases, she claimed she “wasn’t sure what to wear” on holiday.
The cash was uncovered in vacuum-packed bags, concealed under coffee, which officials believe was an attempt to disguise the drugs from airport sniffer dogs.
In a statement, Ms Hanlon said she was not being paid and that it was the first trip she had taken. She believed it was legal as the funds would be declared in Dubai.
However, it emerged that Ms Hanlon had made three previous trips in July and August and had been paid roughly £3,000 to courier the funds for each trip.
The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) stated that Ms Hanlon had carried roughly £1 Million in cash on each trip, totalling £3.5 Million.
Despite claims from Ms Hanlon’s Barrister that she was vulnerable at the time, sentencing Judge Karen Holt said she did not find that Ms Hanlon had been “exploited”, adding that Ms Hanlon “knew what she was doing”.
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