A Japanese passenger has been stopped at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for trying to take ¥119 million (US$1.05 million) out of the nation in his checked baggage without declaring it to customs, aviation police said yesterday.
Forty-seven-year-old Katsumi Kamiya was scheduled to board a China Airlines flight leaving for Manila at 1:35pm when aviation police detected something suspicious in his luggage during an X-ray scan.
Upon checking his baggage, they found ¥119 million in old ¥10,000 notes issued by the Bank of Japan in 1958.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Japan stopped issuing the bills in 1986, but they can still be exchanged at banks for new bills, according to Taiwan’s central bank and financial authorities.
The man said he was taking the bills to Manila to have their values estimated.
Kamiya was given the option to leave for Manila without the cash, but counting the money and other procedures took so long that he missed his flight, aviation police said.
The money has been turned over to customs in line with the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (管理外匯條例).
It was the second such case this week.
On Wednesday, Taiwanese customs officers confiscated ¥5 million (US$44,269) from a South Korean woman who attempted to leave the nation without declaring the money.
Lee Mi-young was carrying the cash in her hand luggage, aviation police said, adding that customs officers at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport seized ¥3.82 million.
The law requires passengers and aviation personnel traveling in and out of the nation to declare foreign currency valued at more than US$10,000 or more than 20,000 Chinese yuan. Lee was left with the equivalent of US$10,000, while the remaining sum was confiscated.
Lee said the money was for her children’s school fees, aviation police said.
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