Woman, 65, smuggles banknotes in shoes

The pensioner hid the €500 banknotes in the soles of her black sneakers, while also hiding notes in the car she was driving as she left the principality and entered Spain.

Spain’s Civil Guard caught the woman, from Madrid, on a motorway near Lleida, Catalonia, during a vehicle inspection.

She was allowed to keep €1000, as a “minimum necessity” while the rest of the money was handed over to the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financial Crime of the Bank of Spain.

Meanwhile agents have begun proceedings for infringement of legislation on money laundering.

This is the largest single amount that the Civil Guard have found being smuggled from Andorra since the start of the year. Officers have already discovered a total of €90,000 in smuggled notes since January 1st, according to the Spanish Huffington Post.

Andorra has become synonymous with tax avoidance and money laundering. In 2014, legendary Spanish soprano, Montserrat Caballé was charged with tax fraud after becoming a resident of Andorra solely to avoid paying taxes to Spain.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy visited the tiny principality in early 2015, the first time a Spanish prime minister had ever bothered to do so, coming to an agreement with his Andorran counterpart, Antoni Martí, on tax fraud.