A man caught by police driving while disqualified found himself in more trouble when police found hundreds of thousands of pounds on the back seat.

Banned motorist Kasam Rahman, 24, of Barnet, was sentenced at Harrow Crown Court on Tuesday to an eight-month suspended jail sentence and ordered to do 200 hours of community work.

Rahman had been stopped by police in his Volvo on the M1 near Barnsley in October 2017. When officers searched his car they found a cardboard box containing £144,795 cash which was referred to HM Revenue and Customs to investigate.

Rahman could not explain why he had such a large amount of money on the back seat of his car. He was charged with money laundering and the cash was forfeited to the Crown in January.

Paul Maybury, assistant director of the HMRC Financial Investigation Service said: “Rahman was arrogant enough to think he could drive around with a substantial amount of cash obtained from criminal activity. He was wrong and it was foolish of him to believe he could get away with committing fraud.

“HMRC is devoting more resources than ever to tracking down fraudsters and urge anyone with information about people who may be involved in money laundering to report it us online or call our Hotline on 0800 788 887.”

Rahman's jail sentence is suspended for two years. He is on home curfew between 9pm and 6am for three months.