Suspected criminal cash found by police following A1 vehicle stop

Around £165,000 has been found in suspected criminal cash following a police vehicle stop on Wednesday.

It happened on the A1, near Banbridge.

On Thursday morning, police said a 33-year old man was charged with a number of offences.

He was due to appear before Belfast Magistrates court.

Follow-up searches were carried out in two properties in west Belfast in which a number of items were seized including quantity of a suspected herbal cannabis worth an estimated £67,500, a further £6000 cash, drug supply paraphernalia and a round of ammunition.

A spokesperson for the PSNI’s Organised Crime Unit said: “I welcome today’s seizure made by my colleagues in the Roads Policing Unit.

“We know from experience that removing cash and high value assets has a real impact on the organised criminal groups involved in exploiting our communities for their own profit.

“Such criminal groups are motivated only by financial gain and have no regard for the misery and suffering they inflict on the most vulnerable in our society.

“We remain determined to remove their ability to do so but we recognise we have much work to do.

“We are dependent on the assistance of the community for this work and, to this end, I would appeal for anyone with any information about this type of criminality to contact detectives on 101.”