WA detectives seize $700,000 in cash found inside Volkswagen Golf in a Forrestfield freight yard

WA detectives have seized almost $700,000 of cash from inside a Volkswagen Golf destined for Sydney as part of a crackdown on organised crime gangs targeting WA.

It comes as senior police reveal that organised crime figures are now using a more “scattered approach” to smuggling drugs and cash in and out of WA amid a spate of recent seizures.

On Monday police executed a search warrant at a freight yard in Forrestfield where the Volkswagen Golf that was destined for Sydney was searched. It will be alleged $695,140 had been concealed inside the car’s spare tyre.

The seizure follows a police investigation into the “suspicious transportation of vehicles interstate from Western Australia”.

Later that day a 23-year-old man, who had flown to Perth from Sydney on May 7, was arrested at a motel in Bentley.

He has been charged with laundering property/money from proceeds of a major offence. The man appeared in Perth Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday and will reappear next week.

The West Australian last month revealed police have managed to stop more than $70 million of drugs hitting WA streets in the past few weeks alone thanks to a new squad dedicated to intercepting narcotics crossing the border.

The special border investigation team set up within the serious and organised crime division has helped intercept 68kg of methamphetamine, more than 2kg of cocaine and $2.7 million in cash coming into WA by road and air since mid-March.

A Sydney man alleged by police to have bikie links, a former DJ from Victoria and people considered “senior organisers” by cops are among those now facing serious charges.

On Wednesday, WA Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch said massive cash seizures led to “confusion in the organised crime world.”

Several other recent investigations have resulted in the seizure of trucks carrying huge consignments of cash and drugs.

“After the ninth truck that we seized with the large amount of money and or drugs, they change tactics and they reduced the number (they transport) and they do a more scattergun approach,” Mr Blanch told 6PR radio.

“I think there will be more questions being asked in NSW from the bikie hierarchy, why does this keep happening in WA?

“They’re seeking answers and I would not want to be in a bikie gang at the moment as part of that group because they just don’t know where to look at the moment.”