Economics
Suitcases of Cash Halted by Virus in EU Money-Laundering Hotspot
- Travel-ban impact supports Latvia’s money-smuggling suspicions
- Baltic nation has clamped down on illicit activity in banks
Photographer: Ulrich Baumgarten via Getty Images
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When customs agents in Riga followed a tip and searched passengers arriving on a private jet from Ukraine last year, they hit the jackpot. Luggage belonging to the four travelers contained about $1 million in U.S. and European banknotes. The contraband was seized.
Latvia, a European Union and euro-area country of just 1.9 million people, hit the headlines in recent years for the piles of dirty money sloshing around its banks. A crackdown has ended much of the illegal activity -- often wire transfers from clients in the former Soviet Union looking for a gateway for funds into the EU. Some more old-fashioned methods of moving money persist, however.