Currency declaration & hidden stash
 

Hi. Im going to be travelling thru west coast countries + Mali to do a year long job for an NGO in Nigeria. It looks like Im going to need to bring quite a lot of cash with me. I was thinking about separating it and hiding it in various places in the bodywork of the Land Rover that would need a torch and screwdriver to get at it when needed.

My question is: Will customs people remove panelling of the car etc. to find undeclared cash or is that a good idea and its safe to only declare the cash they can see? Or am I being an idiot and its a stupid idea?

Thanks you nice people.

Pete

In my meagre experience most border/customs staff give most vehilces an obligatory light lookover. Providing you are not atracting too much attention, you should be fine. I am out to Morocco next year and will have a stash of emergency money hidden in my Hippo.

Lets hope the nigerian chaps aren't reading this. Would be sensible if you really were John Doe.

carefull with the blow torch when retrieving those notes.

mark

Ha ha! Thats 'torch' as-in-for seeing things-in the dark. Although Im beginning to think that welding everything into the car might not actually be a bad idea for Nigeria!

If you are spending a year in Nigeria, it may actually be easier to get the money sent to you after your arrival via bank transfer or Western Union. Western Union will give you cash in US dollars if you want.