U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized $99,443 in unreported currency from two groups of international travelers at Washington Dulles International Airport during Memorial Day weekend, according to a June 1 announcement.
On May 23, CBP currency detector dog Vito alerted officers to a U.S. citizen man and his family attempting to board a flight to Brussels, Belgium. The man initially reported that he and his wife each had $7,000. After being informed of the currency reporting law by officers, he stated both verbally and in writing that they possessed a combined $20,000. Officers then assisted him with completing a U.S. Treasury Department currency reporting form on which he wrote they had $22,500. A further inspection revealed additional money concealed inside a small purse and an extra $1,450 hidden in pants pockets under an outer pair of pants worn by the man. The total amount counted was $46,520.
The following day, CBP stopped another group consisting of a U.S. citizen female and her Cameroonian mother as they prepared to board another flight to Brussels. After being briefed on the reporting requirements for carrying large sums of cash overseas, the pair reported having $15,000 combined; however, when filling out the required form with officer assistance moments later, the daughter declared $22,361 instead. Additional funds were discovered stitched inside women’s undergarments during baggage inspection for a total sum of $52,923.
Both parties’ currencies were seized by CBP officers, who released them without criminal charges.
“These are two seizures in which travelers went to extreme measures to unnecessarily conceal currency from Customs and Border Protection officers during a departure inspection,” said CBP Area Port Director Christine Waugh for the Area Port of Washington, D.C., said CBP Area Port Director Christine Waugh for the Area Port of Washington, D.C. “Currency reporting laws don’t restrict how much currency people can take overseas nor is the currency taxed; the law is focused on identifying bulk currency smuggling attempts that may be associated with illegal activity such as financial fraud or money scams or criminal enterprises such as drug or weapons smuggling or human trafficking.”
CBP reports continued instances where travelers conceal full amounts of their carried cash: In April this year alone at Dulles airport four travelers had a combined total of $163,181 seized for non-reporting; similarly in January four more travelers lost access to their combined sum of $119,178 after failing proper declaration procedures.
