A Japanese man was stopped by aviation police at Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport on Friday while carrying Japanese banknotes with a face value of ¥119 million ($1.05 million), well above the limit that can be legally transported out of Taiwan without being declared.
Taipei Customs said the money was discovered in the suitcase of a 48-year-old Japanese man during routine luggage checks. After careful examination, it was determined that the stacks of banknotes are old versions of ¥10,000 bills.
The man, who had planned to take an early afternoon flight to Manila, told authorities that he intended to take the banknotes to the Philippine capital for appraisal.
All of the banknotes have been confiscated.
When leaving and entering Taiwan, travelers are required to declare currency, gold, traveler's checks, securities or stocks exceeding an amount equivalent to $10,000.
Those who fail to declare or give incorrect information could see the undeclared cash seized.
Statistics provided by Taipei Customs show that last year saw 10 violations with more than NT$9.8 million ($295,000) seized from travelers entering Taiwan and 90 violations with over NT$258 million seized from people leaving the island.