Tunisia arrests judge in possession of $0.5m

A judge was arrested in Tunisia while reportedly carrying €400,000 ($527,200), local media reported yesterday.

The Customs Guard in Monastir governorate arrested the judge while she was driving on the road linking the cities of El Jem and Sfax, a security source told Echorouk Online.

A spokesman for the General Administration of Customs, Brigadier Haitham Al-Zinad, confirmed to Shams FM that the customs guard division in Monastir tracked down a foreign currency smuggling network and seized sums of foreign currency.

The division had received information about the network, Al-Zinad said, adding that the seized vehicle, which bears a Tunisian registration plate, was driven by a judge whose description matched the available intelligence on the criminal network.

The customs official pointed out that the suspect stated during interrogation that she intended to transfer the money to a city in the south for the benefit of some parties that are active in the field of currency smuggling.

The official spokesman for the Appeals Department of Monastir said the Public Prosecution has initiated a probe to determine the source of the funds, while confirming that the suspect said that she had no knowledge of the amount or nature of funds, and that she accepted to transfer the money as a favour.

The judge has since been banned from travelling and has had her car seized pending an investigation.

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