€15.2m uncovered at Moscow airport

Moscow: Russian authorities detained four men who arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport on a flight from Istanbul with €15.2 million in cash.

Three Azeri citizens and one Iranian attempted to enter the country without declaring the $14.5m and €4.1m they carried in four suitcases and four backpacks, the Federal Customs Service said on its website.

The bills, in $100 and €500 denominations, weighed almost 63 stone, Larisa Ledovskikh, a spokeswoman for the customs service, said by phone in Moscow.

The men are being held for failing to declare the currency before they entered the country, Ledovskikh said, declining to identify the men before they are charged.