A pensioner caught trying to take more than £9,000 abroad has forfeited the money despite never being charged with a crime.

Hekuran Halili was a passenger in a car stopped at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Folkestone when Border Force officers discovered more than £28,000 - including bundles of banknotes sewn into the lining of the driver's jacket.

Due to this suspicious behaviour Kent Police was notified and all the money was seized and later forfeited under Proceeds of Crime legislation.

The driver and Halili, a 70-year-old from Barking in Essex, told officers they were travelling to Belgium to deliver furniture to a friend.

Halili objected to the forfeiture of his portion of the cash, £9,258 in total, but failed to attend a hearing at Maidstone Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. The forfeiture order was granted in his absence and he was also ordered to pay £2,000 in court costs.

DI Dave Godfrey, of Kent Police's economic crime unit, said: "Whilst neither Mr Halili nor his associate were ever charged with any criminal offences in relation to this incident, they were unable to provide any verifiable evidence as to why they were carrying such large sums of money across the border.

"Our financial investigators regularly use the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure money potentially earned through illegal means cannot be used to fund further criminal activity, and to reinforce the important message that crime does not pay."