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Ian Cruxton of Soca says that's entirely what investigators expect the gangs to do - but there are reasons to be optimistic because they're trying to disrupt th
by hugh3 17y ago
Ian Cruxton of Soca says that's entirely what investigators expect the gangs to do - but there are reasons to be optimistic because they're trying to disrupt the "business practices" of organised crime and force gangs to make mistakes.
It makes life marginally harder for 'em. Instead of walking around with a briefcase you're suddenly walking around with a suitcase. Instead of having to get one guy you really trust to carry the money you have to get two guys you really trust to carry the money. It's twice as hard to hide your huge cash wad when you travel through customs. Mostly though, the main goal is probably just to annoy them.
- Retric 17y agoThe main goal is probably just to annoy them. The problem is it annoys everyone that deals with significant quantities of cash. I keep cash on hand just in case a bank glitch messes with my checking account. Forcing me to keep larger bills reduces my available hiding places and makes it easier to rob me. PS: I suggest most people without significant debt keep 2 weeks living expences (food/fuel/etc) in cash just in case.
- arethuza 17y agoThat's an interesting point - I normally have very little cash on me and we don't keep any at home as Pin-n-Chip cards are taken by pretty much everywhere I shop. However, I remember reading about the financial crisis of '08 and how a lot of UK banks (RBS & HBOS) were close to shutting down and how terrified the politicians were that the cash machine and EPOS networks would stop working. It did make me think that keeping a wad of cash somewhere might be a good idea.
- mclin 17y agoWhat about gold? or is too difficult to exchange? especially when the zombie apocalypse comes :P
- tron_carter 17y agoSilver is probably better for day to day zombie apocalypse transactions.
- sethg 17y agoYou wouldn’t want to exchange a suitcase full of cocaine for a suitcase full of gold and then discover, long after the purchaser had flown away, that the coins were 90% pure gold instead of 99.99%. As long as you trust the ECB to keep inflation down, it probably makes more sense to stick with eurobills. It’s a lot easier to inspect a modern bank note than assay an allegedly gold coin.
- splat 17y agoOf course, under the laws of asset forfeiture, carrying around large quantities of cash is a de facto crime in itself, even if you are not engaging in any criminal activities with the money. (Radley Balko has written a number of good articles about it. Here are two of them: http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/26/the-forfeiture-racket http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/26/the-forfeiture-racket and http://www.slate.com/id/2243428. http://www.slate.com/id/2243428.)
- patrickk 17y agoThe main goal is probably just to annoy them. The main goal is probably to force them out of the UK and into someone else's jurisdiction. It's similar to the situation that occurred when the Irish Government set up the Criminal Assets Bureau in 1996 (the only real achievement of theirs in my lifetime), all of our major drug dealers and major bank robbers who were operating with impunity up to that point immediately started to flee the country. They went to Holland, Portugal and Spain mainly. All CAB had to do was produce evidence in a civil case (beyond reasonable doubt, much easier to prosecute than criminal law) that the person had no visible source of income to own the assets that they had (houses, cars, champion racehorses, yachts). CAB could then simply freeze their bank accounts and confiscate their assets. It was the first organisation of it's kind in the world, and there are plans to implement similar models elsewhere due to it's unprecedented success. If all of Europe did this it would make drug trafficker's lives much more difficult - they simply couldn't enjoy the proceeds of their ill-gotten gains, or it would be confiscated before long.
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- hugh3 17y agoTwo weeks' living expenses in 200-euro notes is still a pretty small pile. Besides, if the shit hits the fan who's going to have change for a 500 anyway? Unless you're just expecting a glitch with your bank, in which case it's best to just have a couple of different accounts.