U.S. CUSTOMS SEIZES $5.5 MILLION

U.S. CUSTOMS SEIZES $5.5 MILLION

   U.S. Customs announced that it has seized over $5.5 million in cash generated from illegal activities before leaving the country.

   “Operation Pressure Point” involved 163 currency seizures and 30 individual arrests. Because of the strict reporting requirements at U.S. banks, criminals face difficulties depositing large sums of cash.

   There is no limit on how much money a person can legally transport when entering or leaving the United States. However, federal law requires that anyone entering or leaving the country with more than $10,000 in U.S. currency or monetary instruments to file a Currency and Monetary Instruments Report with Customs.

   For criminals, the alternative is to stash the money in freight, baggage and on persons to get it out of the country. “Enforcement actions like Operation Pressure Point are part of our overall anti-money laundering strategy to force traffickers into using far riskier and more vulnerable methods of smuggling their illegal profits from their drug activities,” said Customs Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.

   At New York’s JFK International Airport, Customs inspectors discovered cash hidden inside a television set, in the soles of a pair of shoes and strapped around the waist and ankles of a passenger.

   Inspectors are using specially trained dogs and X-ray technology to assist in their search for smuggled currency inside cargo and ocean containers. Since 1996, Customs has stopped more than $300 million in illegal currency from going overseas.