Crook hides cash inside Xbox

£12,000 found stuffed inside an Xbox and three PlayStation 2 consoles.

A raid on a man's house in Tower Hamlets on Monday January 14 in response to his illegal business dealings regarding Sony PSP SD memory cards and chipping has resulted in the discovery of over £12,000 in cash - found stuffed inside four video game consoles.

After the seized consoles were handed over to ELSPA investigators began to remove casing from the consoles with the intention of checking for chips and tampered hard drives, but to their surprise they found clear bags containing £12,210 cash.

The original Xbox contained the largest sum, housing £5,925 where the hard drive is usually found. The three PlayStation 2 consoles contained £2,835, £2,025 and £1,425 respectively.

Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA, commented: "I've heard it all now. It never ceases to amaze ELSPA and its investigators the lengths criminals go to make money - and always to the detriment of honest, hard working businesses. I congratulate Tower Hamlets Trading Standards on bringing to an end this illegal business operation."

We checked our three original Xbox consoles and found no sign of any hidden cash - doh.