Passenger's '£70,000' in foreign cash stolen from coach

A passenger has had a bag containing £70,000 worth of foreign cash stolen from a National Express coach travelling to Portsmouth.

Police said the victim, aged in his 80s, brought Australian dollars and Thai baht over from his home in Thailand to buy a property in the UK.

He told police that he stored the large black bag in the hold of the coach at London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday.

But he said when the coach arrived at Portsmouth the holdall was missing.

The coach left Heathrow at 16:45 BST, stopping at Winchester by King Alfred's statue at about 18:30, Southampton coach station at about 19:15, shortly followed by Southampton University, before arriving at The Hard in Portsmouth at about 20:00 BST.

PC Leigh Waller, of Hampshire Constabulary, said: "We would like to hear from anyone who was on the coach, to eliminate them from our investigation, or from anyone else who may have been at any of the stopping points at the relevant times."

Police also alerted shopkeepers and bankers to the possibility that the thief might try to change a large quantity of Australian dollars or Thai baht into UK currency in the near future.

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