Police have seized more than £6.2 million in cash since April 2008, much of it at the port of Dover.

The seizures were made in 449 separate searches.

Two particularly high value seizures, £1.4 million and £681,000, account for a third of the massive haul. £1.4 million was found in boxes in a van leaving the country from Dover in July 2009. It’s believed to be the largest amount ever seized at a British port.

And £681,000 was found in a washing machine also leaving the country from Dover in March last year.

Significantly, after lengthy investigations, £4,517,905.84 million has been forfeited from 157 suspects. Half of this money goes to the Home Office, and half of it goes to Kent Police to be used in the fight against crime.

Criminals’ assets are a crucial source of income for the force and, importantly, seizing them also disrupts serious and organised crime groups by eliminating their power base.

Frontier Operations Detective Inspector, Charlie Stokes, said: "When people carry large sums of cash it’s usually indicative of illegal activity such as money laundering or drug trafficking. Anyone carrying more than £1,000 in cash when they arrive in or leave the country faces having it seized unless they can show they have the money for lawful purposes.

"Officers seize cash coming into and leaving the country virtually every day. They use their knowledge, based on years of experience, tip offs and cash dogs to locate money."

Full story in this week's Dover Mercury.