An Italian-American airline passenger caught with undeclared cash beyond the legal limit will be welcoming the new year while in police custody.

The man had landed at Malta International Airport after flying in from the USA via Frankfurt. He was stopped for a routine screening check and an X-ray scan of his luggage revealed €16,600 and US$114.

Customs officials allowed the man to keep the €10,000 in undeclared cash allowed by law, seized the rest and handed him to police officers from the Economic Crimes Unit, who arrested him pending investigation. He is expected to be arraigned in court in the coming days.

In a statement, Customs said that this was a record-breaking year when it came to seizures of undeclared cash, with four such cases in the past two weeks alone.

Under EU law, passengers carrying more than €10,000 in undeclared cash can be arrested, fined and have the undeclared amount seized.

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