Sea passenger charged after not declaring cash

A man has been fined over €12,700 after he was stopped at the Marsa sea terminal on Wednesday and found to be carrying a large sum of undeclared cash.

Italian national Jinquiang Liu, aged 33 from Naples, was arraigned in court after staff at the Marsa sea terminal found him to be carrying €33,075 in cash, which exceeded the €10,000 limit.

Arraigned before magistrate Astrid May Grima on Friday, Liu pleaded guilty, confirming his admission after the court allowed him time to reconsider his plea.

Making brief submissions on punishment, Inspector Daniel Formosa told the court that Liu had indeed cooperated with the police, but argued that 55% of the sum had to be confiscated, by law, in addition to the imposition of a fine. 

The court ordered Liu to pay a total of €12,741.

Lawyer Mario Caruana was legal aid defence counsel.