A woman stopped from leaving Australia with $190,000 cash in her luggage initiated an investigation that has led the AFP to restrain about $7 million in assets as suspected proceeds of crime.
An AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) investigation began in October, 2023, after Perth International Airport security staff identified irregularities during screening of a 65-year-old woman's luggage. Security staff referred the matter to Australian Border Force (ABF) officers, who identified it as bundles of cash.
A search of the woman's luggage and clothing allegedly found $191,850 in Australian dollars, along with a small amount of Euros and other currency. The AFP responded to a request for assistance at the airport and the cash was seized.
The woman had allegedly failed to declare the money in her luggage and told officers it was savings, with some of it given to her by her family, including her son and daughter-in-law.
During the CACT investigation, it was identified that the son and daughter-in-law had purchased six WA properties to the value of about $4.5 million in the past six years, some of which were not mortgaged.
The couple's spending and accumulated asset portfolio did not appear to align with earnings they had declared to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) over the relevant financial years.
Police alleged the couple hid their true earnings to ensure they paid less tax than required to the ATO.
During the investigation, the couple also allegedly purchased a property in Gnangara (WA), worth just over $2 million.
The CACT - which brings together the AFP, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, ATO, AUSTRAC, and ABF - applied to the Perth District Court on 24 June, 2025, to have multiple assets belonging to the woman and the couple restrained under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth)
The restrained assets include:
- Seven properties in Western Australia collectively worth about $6.5 million, including the Gnangara residential property worth just over $2 million;
- The almost $192,000 in cash seized at Perth Airport; and
- A bank account containing about $236,000.
The Commonwealth's proceeds of crime laws provide expansive tools for the restraint of both proceeds and instruments of crime, as well as pecuniary penalty orders and unexplained wealth orders, based on a civil standard of proof. These laws can also operate when there is no related criminal investigation or prosecution, which is the situation in this case.
The Commonwealth's proceeds of crime laws also provide people whose assets have been restrained with a number of protections, including the ability to have their assets excluded from restraint, if they can satisfy the court that such assets are not the proceeds or instruments of crime, and have been legitimately acquired.
AFP Western Command acting Superintendent Chris Colley said the mandate of the CACT was to deprive offenders of the proceeds, instruments and benefits of their crimes, and to punish and deter them from breaching the law or reinvesting in further criminal activities.
"The AFP and its partners in the CACT will hold people to account and make sure they are able to lawfully justify the wealth and assets they accumulate," a/Supt Colley said.
"Those who acquire wealth unlawfully consider the confiscation of their assets to be as much, or more, of a punishment than any potential prison sentence.
"The CACT is committed to seeing the legal process through to completion; pursuing confiscation orders in relation to the restrained assets and property."
ABF Superintendent John Eldridge said there was no limit to the amount of cash travellers were allowed to bring in or take out of the country, however it must be declared if it was more than $10,000 AUD.
"The ABF and partners use intelligence-based profiling and behavioural analysis to target people attempting to depart Australia with undeclared excess cash, including allegedly in support of money laundering networks and serious organised crime groups," Supt Eldridge said.
"We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to remove profit as a motive for criminal acts."
At the conclusion of successful legal proceedings, confiscated assets are liquidated by AFSA, with the proceeds placed in the Commonwealth Confiscated Assets Account (CAA).
Funds in the CAA can be reinvested by the Commonwealth Minister for Home Affairs into programs which support crime prevention, law enforcement, drug treatment, and other related measures that support the safety and security of the community.
