Croatian driver flees A11 check, then faces money laundering probe

A 43-year-old Croatian man who fled a police check on the A11 motorway was stopped in Slovenia and later detained in Austria after police found several thousand euros in his car, ORF reported.

Police stopped the man near Rosenbach on Monday at about 3.15 p.m., before he was due to leave Austria for Slovenia. After showing a German driving licence, he suddenly drove off. Austrian motorway police pursued him but could not catch up because of traffic and a single-lane tunnel.

Police in Slovenia stopped him near Ljubljana. As he was not wanted there and his driving licence had been left in Rosenbach, he returned to the Austrian border crossing.

During a voluntary search of his car, police found a bundle containing several thousand euros beneath the boot cover. The man gave conflicting accounts of where the money came from, prompting police to detain him temporarily on suspicion of money laundering. The cash was seized.

He was questioned on Tuesday at a police detention centre with an interpreter present. After consulting the Klagenfurt prosecutor’s office, police reported him while he remained at liberty. Austria’s Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum also imposed a residence ban on him.