Student found with £38k in bag at Belfast airport is remanded

RTÉ News​

2 days ago

A 23-year-old finance undergraduate at a leading UK university, who was stopped with £38,000 in a backpack at Belfast International Airport, has been remanded in custody.
Ziang Li, a Chinese national, with an address at Sanderson Villas in Newcastle, England, was stopped by officers at check-in last night as he prepared to board a flight to Manchester.
Inside the bag they found the cash wrapped in plastic bags, much of it in small denomination notes.
Mr Li was arrested on suspicion of possessing the proceeds of crime.
He appeared before Coleraine Magistrates Court this morning.
The court heard that he was a finance student at Durham University.
During interview, he initially told police he had travelled from Edinburgh with the money to buy a Rolex watch in a high-end Belfast jewellers.
He said by the time he arrived in the city the shop was shut, so he stayed overnight before making his way back to the airport.
He later allegedly changed his story to say that the money had been sent to him by his parents to pay his £22k a year tuition fees.
He'd travelled to Belfast to change his Chinese currency into sterling because he'd been told he'd get a better rate.
He went to a house off Belfast's Donegall Road where he was given the cash.
A detective constable told the court she believed that Mr Li was working with a London-based Organised Crime Gang.
She said they'd checked with the jewellers and had been told that Mr Li did not have an appointment to purchase a Rolex.
Opposing bail, the detective constable said police were concerned Mr Li was a flight risk as he had no connections to Northern Ireland or Britain.
A defence solicitor said his client had purchased Rolex watches on previous occasions and could provide receipts as proof of purchase.
The solicitor said the watches were posted to London for onward sale and his client received a commission of around £500.
The magistrate asked whether there was proof of address or of Mr Li's enrolment at Durham University.
After taking instruction in the court, the solicitor said Mr Li was currently on a gap year.
The court heard that he'd been in the UK for four years on a student visa.
The magistrate said he'd heard a "convoluted version of events" that stretched his credulity.
He said due to the "shifting sands of the story" and police concerns around bail, he would deny it.
Mr Li was remanded in custody to appear again on 2 September.