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Man found with cash stash in car sent to prison

Man found with cash stash in car sent to prison

Monday 19 December 2016

Man found with cash stash in car sent to prison

Monday 19 December 2016


A 44-year-old man caught with almost £12,000 hidden in his car, who claimed he’d won the money in a bet, has been sent to prison for acting as a ‘courier’ of money ‘tainted by criminal activities’.

Customs officers stopped Carl Brennan on the 18th June 2016 at the Elizabeth Terminal as he was leaving the Island. He was known to have links with convicted drug offenders and it was thought he might be acting as a courier to launder profits.

When officers asked him how much money he had on him he failed to tell them about £11,660 he had in a wash bag, hidden under a spare tyre in the back of his Ford Fiesta.

He later claimed he’d ‘forgotten’ about the money in the boot, and that he’d won it in a bet with a friend called ‘Andy’ - a claim ‘Andy’ later denied.

Brennan then changed his story saying he’d been paid £500 to act as courier. He didn’t know who’d given him the money or where it had come from, although he felt it might be ‘criminal property’ because he knew it couldn’t be paid into a bank account.

Further investigations revealed Brennan to be a regular visitor to the Island. In the proceeding 5 months he’d been to the Island six times, staying a total of 29 nights, sometimes in some of the Island’s more expensive hotels, and had spent a minimum of £9,000. His defence advocate explained these visits were a mixture of short holiday breaks and a belief that he had to be in the Island in relation to separate charges.

Believing the money might be linked to drugs sales Customs sent it away to be tested but experts failed to find any evidence to link the two.

Sentencing, Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq told Brennan illegal activities cannot take place without couriers and that this was a serious offence. Although the cash couldn’t be linked directly to drugs it was clearly ‘tainted by criminal activities’. Brennan was therefore key to helping criminals profit and should go to prison for 12 months. 

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