Police spot checks on cars have netted almost €50 million in cash over the last five years, new police figures show.

Round the clock patrols discovered a total of €48.8 million in holdalls, suitcases, hidden compartments, and sometimes in plain view on a car seat.

On average police found amounts running into a couple of tens of thousands but occasionally they happened on half a million or even a million in cash. In 2024 alone police confiscated €8.2 million.

“These huge amounts in cash are largely connected with the drugs trade and can be a part of an underground banking system to launder money,” a spokesman for the police told the Telegraaf.

Intercepting the money hits criminals where it hurts, he said. “The information gathered by the FIT is also used by police units which are investigating other forms of financial crime or when tackling criminal gangs.”

The police checks also resulted in 879 arrests. Hundreds of driving licenses were confiscated, as well as 1,400 kilos of hard drugs, 860 kilos of soft drugs, 9,000 xtc tablets, 22,000 illegal pills, nitrous oxide and dozens of guns and munition.