A man from the Dominican Republic has been acquitted of money laundering but was found guilty of being in possession of more than the prescribed limit of €10,000 when entering or leaving the country.

He was fined €4,540.

47-year-old Carlos Friars was stopped at the airport in September 2009 and found to be carrying €18,120 in cash. He had declared €6,000 of that amount.

Mr Friars had arrived in Malta for one day and was also in possession of the phone number of a drug courier who had arrived the day before.

He told police he had come to Malta to buy gold but found it too expensive and decided to go home.

Magistrate Edwina Grima said that even though the police proved that he was a dubious character and that he had committed crimes outside of Malta, the concrete evidence linking the money to criminal activity was not there.

The €8,120 over the allowed €10,000 was confiscated and the balance of €5,470 (after deducting his fine) was given back to the accused.