Society Passenger stopped at airport with big stash of Japanese yen

■ CNA file photo

Taipei, Feb. 19 (CNA) A Japanese passenger has been stopped at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for trying to take 119 million Japanese yen (US$1.05 million) out of the country in his checked baggage without declaring the sum to customs, aviation police said Friday.

The Japanese national, 47-year-old Katsumi Kamiya, was scheduled to board a China Airlines flight leaving for Manila at 1:35 p.m. when aviation police detected something suspicious in his luggage during an X-ray check.

What they found was 119 million yen in old 10,000 yen notes issued by the Bank of Japan in 1958.

Japan stopped issuing the high-denomination bills in 1986, but they can still be exchanged at banks for newer denomination bills, according to Taiwan's central bank and financial authorities.

The man said he was taking the large sum of the old Japanese currency to Manila to have its value appraised.

Kamiya could have still departed for Manila without the cash, but counting the money and other procedures took so long that he missed the flight.

The money has been turned over to customs in line with the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. 

(By Bien Chin-fen and Lilian Wu)

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel