Paisa in pipeline, money in toilet: How to hide wealth 101
Not a lot of us are rolling in cash. But if you are in possession of some cash you shouldn't have, but are not rich enough to hide it overseas, then this is your guide.
Here are 5 times people hid cash, and other valuable items, in the most unusual of places:
1. CASH PIPELINE
We all have gas pipeline, water pipeline and a drainage pipeline. But did you know the other use of a pipeline? It is to fill it up with cash, apparently!
Karnataka’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) found wads of unaccounted-for cash and some gold jewellery stuffed down a drainage pipe. The money was recovered from the residence of a junior engineer from the Public Works Department.
A total of Rs 13.5 lakh in cash was recovered from the pipeline. Rs 6 lakh cash was found hidden inside the ceiling of the house.
We wonder whether the junior engineer had watched Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai on Netflix. In the film, a financially struggling woman finds wads of cash inside a washbasin’s pipe. It turns out that the personal assistant of a local politician living in the same apartment was stuffing the pipeline with black money, you know, kinda like our PWD guy here.
People living in apartments should go check whether the pipes in their houses are clogged. Who knows, it might because of some money!
2. THE WALLS HAVE... CASH!
Which is the last place you want your wealth to be hidden, other than in government control? Bathrooms! Who wants to stuff their wealth where everybody dumps their business? This wealthy businessman thought it was the best place, and it was - for a long, long time.
In 2006, a contractor in the US found US$ 182,000 Depression-era bills inside a bathroom wall. The contractor was tearing down bathroom walls of an 83-year-old house for a remodelling project. He found two green metal lockers suspended inside a wall by a wire. The lockers contained white envelopes with the green bills.
3. BREAKING BAD STYLE
Bathrooms seem to be the sweet spot to hide some valuable things that people don’t want discovered. In 2016, British police discovered nearly £40,000 stashed in a toilet cistern from a suspected money launderer’s house.
Does the plot sound too familiar? It’s because that’s exactly what Walter White from Breaking Bad does. He hides wads of cash all over his house including in the tank behind the toilet.
4. THE SMUGGLER’S ROUTE
Four smugglers: a Chinese, two South Koreans, and a Taiwanese, tried to smuggle over 80 kg gold worth nearly Rs 40 crore into India from Hong Kong. But how to get past the customs? Simple, melt the gold into cylinders or cubes or other machine parts and coat them with nickel.
Nonetheless, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) foiled their plans by intercepting the smugglers at Delhi airport.
5. JUST STOMACH IT
This one is a bit painful.
A Nigerian man almost got away with smuggling US$ 90,000 into France, except... a sniffer dog smelled marijuana on some of the dough hidden in his clothing. But the story doesn’t end there. He had also stuffed some more cash inside condoms and swallowed it. On further investigation and an X-ray, the police discovered the bills inside his intestines.
You must be really invested in hiding some dough if you’ve come till the end of the article. You must also keep in mind that all these people were, nonetheless, caught. Moral of the story: Police will find your stash! It might be better to just spend it all on consumables.