The preliminary investigation into the illegal transport of a large sum of cash from Germany to Armenia has been completed.
Law enforcement officers revealed that on May 30, 2026, S. N., a citizen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and M. N., a citizen of Armenia, by prior agreement, acquired funds on an particularly large scale in Germany. They decided to bring the money to Armenia through smuggling. The defendants did not submit a customs declaration regarding the presence of cash and concealed the fact. They illegally brought €956,400—equivalent to more than 397 million drams—packaged in personalized envelopes into the country.
During a customs inspection, State Revenue Committee (SRC) officers discovered the entire sum of cash hidden in personalized envelopes inside various parts of the clothing in the passengers' luggage. The discovered €956,400 was seized on the spot.
By decision of the supervising prosecutor, public criminal prosecutions were initiated against both individuals under the article for cash smuggling on a particularly large scale committed by a group of persons with prior agreement. One of the defendants was detained, while administrative control was chosen as a preventive measure against the other. The discovered cash was recognized as physical evidence to ensure its potential future confiscation. The criminal proceedings have already been sent to the supervising prosecutor for approval of the indictment and transfer of the case to court.
Cases of large-scale cash smuggling demonstrate that border control systems respond quite effectively to high-risk directions. This story of transporting money from Germany is particularly noteworthy because an attempt was made to bypass mandatory declaration requirements using personalized envelopes.
In such cases, it becomes key not only to establish the criminal liability of the perpetrators, but also to reveal the origin of the illegally circulating funds. Subsequent judicial examination will show how the issue of confiscating the seized vast sum of money will be resolved under the full strictness of the law.
