A TAXI passenger who was being driven through Cumbria on the M6 was carrying £40,000 in cash which he could not account for, a court heard.

Cumbria Police applied to a district judge at Carlisle’s Rickergate court to continue holding the money so that officers can investigate its origins. The Vietnamese man involved did not come to court for the hearing.

A police financial investigator told the court that the taxi was stopped as it travelled past the motorway’s Junction 41.

The taxi – which had been booked legitimately booked from a firm in Birmingham – had been to Glasgow. It was stopped because it was travelling south “at speed,” the court was told.

The passenger was in the country illegally.

The investigator said the man had no fixed address but after he was handed over to immigration officials he was released on bail.

District Judge Timothy Gascoyne granted the police application.

Cumbria Constabulary will be allowed to keep the money for six months while the investigation continues. The police application was made under powers from the Proceeds of Crime Act.