Police are investigating after young boys
stumbled across two suitcases containing $195,000 (£150,000, €175,000) in cash
while playing in woods in the US state of Rhode Island.
The chance find is believed by law
enforcement officials to be drug money received from an illegal
marijuana-growing operation.
Officers last week applied to the courts for
forfeiture of the cash.
Court documents seen by Associated Press say
the extraordinary find occurred in October last year as the boys were playing
in some woods in Barrington.
They discovered a
waterproof suitcase filled with $110,000 and told a parent, who took the
padlocked bag into a local police station the following day.
The boys then led officers
to where they had been playing, where a second suitcase, wedged into a tree
about five feet off the ground, was found. It was said to contain $85,000 in
cash.
Documents say federal
authorities want to seize the cash based on laws that allow the civil
forfeiture of money "involved in or used to facilitate drug
trafficking".
It claimed the bundles of
cash were secured in a way that "is consistent with how drug traffickers
group money".
"The police noted a
strong odour of marijuana emanating from the currency," a federal court
document added.
According to the filing,
police are pointing the finger at a 41-year-old man who lived in a home
adjacent to the wooded area where the money was found.
He was on probation for
illegally growing marijuana in the nearby town of Foster, where he was arrested
in June 2012.
The document said
investigators discovered the man had also listed a home in the Rhode Island
town of Scituate where another suspected indoor marijuana-growing operation was
dismantled by police.
A police dog who joined the
investigation into the alleged drug money was pointed towards the suitcases and
indicated to its handler the "odour of a controlled substance," the
court documents add.
There are no indications in
the filing that the suspect or any other individual has been charged in
connection with the $195,000.
Barrington Police Chief John Lacross said he
could not comment about the investigation at this time.
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