Officials carrying out cash control checks at the the airport's Departures Lounge on Tuesday found €31,390 on an Irish passenger leaving Malta for Amman, Jordan.

Customs said in a statement that the passenger was waiting to board the flight when he was escorted to the Customs Office. The cash was found among his belongings.

The legal limit of €10,000 was returned to the passenger while the rest was seized pending investigations.

EU-wide legislation dictates that cash amounts of more than €10,000 have to be declared to Customs. Nearly all countries in the world have adopted similar legal measures. Although there is no limit as to how much cash is carried by any passenger, any amount over €10,000 has to be declared to Customs.

So far, 29 cash cases were detected by Customs this year, with a total €780,824 of undeclared cash being detected.