Mark Adams: Ex-airport policeman jailed over seized cash

An ex-Dublin airport policeman who was arrested after trying to take a large amount of cash on to a Belfast flight has been jailed.

Mark Adams, 42, from Castleheath in Malahide, Dublin, was stopped at Belfast International Airport in 2018.

UK Border Force officials discovered he was carrying more than 180,000 euros (£154,000) in his hand luggage.

It was deemed to be criminal property and he was given a 20-month sentence, half of which must be served in jail.

The case was investigated by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and after Thursday's sentencing at Antrim Crown Court, it released a statement welcoming the jail term.

"Mark Adams was clearly a serial money launderer on both sides of the Irish border, and as a former policeman he would have been well aware that what he was doing was wrong," said its Belfast Branch Commander David Cunningham.

'Almost 500 flights'

The investigation began on 9 May 2018 when Adams attempted to board a flight from Belfast to Alicante in Spain.

According to the NCA's statement, the cash in his luggage was found inside two folders which the agency said were "disguised to look like they contained legally privileged documentation".

When challenged, Adams initially claimed he was flying to Alicante for a wedding.

However, NCA investigators discovered that he had already booked a seat on a return flight to Belfast, which was due to depart just an hour and 20 minutes after he was due to land in Spain.

Further NCA inquiries revealed that during the previous five years, Adams had taken almost 500 flights into or out of the UK, "often returning shortly after landing at his destination", according to the agency.

He was arrested and released on bail but when he failed to return to Northern Ireland to face charges, a European Arrest Warrant was issued.

Cross-border co-operation

UK investigators then realised that Adams had been taken in custody in the Republic of Ireland, where he was facing separate money laundering charges.

He was accused of attempting to smuggle 500,000 euros (£426,000) out of Dublin Airport in 2015, along with other offences.

An Irish court sentenced him to five years in prison but while he was still serving that jail term, he was temporarily transported over the Irish border to be charged with offences in Northern Ireland.

At a previous hearing at Antrim Crown Court, he admitted two charges - attempting to remove criminal property and entering an arrangement to acquire criminal property.

'Dirty money'

In the NCA's statement welcoming Thursday's sentence, the agency said: "Working with our Irish colleagues we were able to spot a pattern of him regularly travelling out of airports in both the Republic and UK, and returning home shortly afterwards.

"Each time he is likely to have taken tens or even hundreds of thousands of euros, and may have been responsible for laundering many millions of criminal money in total."

The jail term was also welcomed by the Northern Ireland Border Force Command.

"Clamping down on the export of undeclared cash from the UK is vital in our fight against organised criminal gangs", said its interim assistant director Darren Brabon.

"The sentence handed down to Adams today is the result of hard work and dedication from Border Force, the NCA and our partners in the Republic of Ireland to tackle dirty money."