A Dutch antique dealer who went on the run after Customs men caught him exchanging £5.13m in drug-tainted cash was jailed for five years today.
Lambertus Wolters, 67, was the target of an undercover surveillance operation investigating a drugs gang when he was arrested with £102,000 in cash on him.
He pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown court to transferring criminal proceeds, namely a quantity of banknotes between October 1, 1998 and January 25, 2001.
Wolters, who stayed in various West End hotels, was originally arrested by Customs and Excise on January 25, 2001 after he was observed collecting bags of cash from suspected drug dealers.
Under the guise of his antique business he exchanged British Pounds for Dutch Gilders, other European currency and U.S. dollars at Thomas Cook foreign exchange bureaus and TTT Moneycorp.
Notes he exchanged at Thomas Cook, Marble Arch (pictured) were drug-tested by investigators and were positive for traces of heroin and ecstasy.
He was released on £600,000 bail, but fled in February 2002 and a European Arrest Warrant was issued.
His sureties lost every penny.
Married father Wolters was eventually re-arrested in Holland on January 25, this year and extradited back to the U.K. on March 30.
Mercedes-driving Wolters originally told investigators he was exchanging cash at a favourable rate for Dutch gypsies who sold pots and pans all over Europe.
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