TAIPEI: Taiwan Customs officers confiscated the equivalent of roughly US$28,000 from a Taiwanese man who was attempting to depart for Macau Friday evening with large amount of undeclared cash, according to the Aviation Police Bureau (APB).
The APB said the man was carrying HK$300,000 in his coat pocket and customs officers at Taoyuan International Airport seized HK$218,000 (US$27,948), in accordance with Taiwan law.
The law requires passengers and transportation service personnel traveling in and out of the country to declare foreign currency valued at more than US$10,000, or if they are carrying more than 20,000 Chinese yuan.
The man was booked on a TransAsia Airways flight to Macau but canceled his travel plan after Customs officers at the airport’s Terminal 1 seized most of the cash, leaving him with the equivalent of US$10,000.
The man told reporters that he was very upset over the incident and had not been aware of the Customs declaration regulation. He said he had been planning to go shopping in Macau and Hong Kong with the money but had to abandon the trip.
It was latest of a series of cases in which Taiwan Customs officers have confiscated foreign currency from passengers who failed to declare amounts of more than US$10,000.
In late December, a Taiwanese national who was traveling with 9 million Japanese yen (US$76,271) lost about two thirds of it upon entry to Taiwan after he failed to declare the cash and Customs officers confiscated 6.6 million yen.
The APB has appealed to travelers in and out of Taiwan to comply with the regulations and declare foreign currency of more than US$10,000 or risk confiscation.
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