$5.8m gold found in family car

Italian police found millions in hidden bullion - 12 ingots under the seats of this family car during a routine Swiss border stop. YouTube/Guardia Di Finanza (no audio).

Italian police found $5.8 million of gold ingots hidden in a family car. Source: AFP

ITALIAN police say they found gold ingots worth 4.5 million euros ($A5.8 million) hidden in a car headed to Switzerland on what appeared "an ordinary Easter day out with the family''.

Police stopped the car on a routine check on Easter Sunday but became suspicious as the man driving it, his wife and three children became increasingly nervous.

Police then found two hidden compartments under the seats.

"It looked like an ordinary Easter day out with the family,'' the financial police said in a statement, adding that the couple had given "evasive answers'' and were therefore taken to a police station for a full-scale search.

A total of 12 ingots were found wrapped in old newspapers and tied together with cellotape, according to video images released by the financial police in Ponte Chiasso in northern Italy, close to Lugano in southern Switzerland.

The 53-year-old driver, an Italian man resident in Switzerland, has been charged with money laundering and the gold has been confiscated.

An investigation has been launched into where it could have come from.

The man, a legal representative of a Swiss company, "did not provide an explanation or demonstrate the legitimate provenance of the large quantity of precious metal,'' the police said, without giving further details.

The phenomenon of gold smuggling across the Alps from Italy into Switzerland has increased sharply in recent months as Italian authorities have multiplied investigations against tax evasion and money laundering
 

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$5.8m gold found in family car

Italian police found millions in hidden bullion - 12 ingots under the seats of this family car during a routine Swiss border stop. YouTube/Guardia Di Finanza (no audio).

Italian police found $5.8 million of gold ingots hidden in a family car. Source: AFP

ITALIAN police say they found gold ingots worth 4.5 million euros ($A5.8 million) hidden in a car headed to Switzerland on what appeared "an ordinary Easter day out with the family''.

Police stopped the car on a routine check on Easter Sunday but became suspicious as the man driving it, his wife and three children became increasingly nervous.

Police then found two hidden compartments under the seats.

"It looked like an ordinary Easter day out with the family,'' the financial police said in a statement, adding that the couple had given "evasive answers'' and were therefore taken to a police station for a full-scale search.

A total of 12 ingots were found wrapped in old newspapers and tied together with cellotape, according to video images released by the financial police in Ponte Chiasso in northern Italy, close to Lugano in southern Switzerland.

The 53-year-old driver, an Italian man resident in Switzerland, has been charged with money laundering and the gold has been confiscated.

An investigation has been launched into where it could have come from.

The man, a legal representative of a Swiss company, "did not provide an explanation or demonstrate the legitimate provenance of the large quantity of precious metal,'' the police said, without giving further details.

The phenomenon of gold smuggling across the Alps from Italy into Switzerland has increased sharply in recent months as Italian authorities have multiplied investigations against tax evasion and money laundering
 

View the original article here

Mystery seal pup found 6km inland

A seal pup lies in the snow after it was found in a forest in eastern Sweden on March 24, 2013, almost six kilometres from the closest body of open water. "A somewhat confused person called and said he was out walking in the woods where he had found a seal pup. I thought he was joking at first," Uppsala police inspector Henrik Pederson told news agency TT. AFP / Kjell Henning Source: AFP

A SEAL pup has been found in a forest in eastern Sweden nearly six kilometres from the closest body of open water.

"A somewhat confused person called and said he was out walking in the woods where he had found a seal pup. I thought he was joking at first," Uppsala police inspector Henrik Pederson told news agency TT.

Hunter Robert Sandefors, who was asked by police to take care of the pup, said the seal had probably made its way into the woods on its own, based on tracks visible in the snow.

Police said the seal had probably crawled three kilometres over sea ice and three kilometres into the woods.

"He must have gotten separated from his mother and gotten lost and gone in the wrong direction," Sandefors told public broadcaster Swedish Radio.

The seal was taken to the nearby Dalaelven river, where it was released and swam away.

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Body of disabled boy found in Kimberley

THE body of a 15-year-old intellectually disabled teenager has been found in rough terrain in the Kimberley.

The Aboriginal boy was reported missing this morning in the vicinity of La Djadarr Bay, north of Broome, in difficult terrain and high temperatures.

Police said the teenager's body was found this afternoon.

They were not immediately able to provide further details, but said there were no suspicious circumstances in the boy's death.

A report was being prepared for the coroner.

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