Thread: Border Officials Seize $97,000 From Teen

http://www.tylerpaper.com/site/news.cfm ... 9096&rfi=6

BORDER OFFICIALS SEIZE $97,000 FROM TEEN

ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/15/2006

HIDALGO, Texas (AP) - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized about $97,000 from a Texas teenager heading into Mexico, the agency said Thursday.

Edgar Alejandro Salazar, 19, of Mission, was arrested Wednesday on a federal charge of bulk cash smuggling.

Salazar and a 17-year-old female passenger were stopped as he drove a Ford Focus through a CBP checkpoint at the Hidalgo International Bridge.

The two denied having more than $10,000 in cash, declaring $1,000.

Officers found $1,520 in the passenger's purse and then $96,585 in the side door of the vehicle.

It is a federal crime not to declare currency or monetary instruments totaling more than $10,000.

The girl was released.

I bet it was payment for drug or alien smuggling.

What would have happened had he declared the money?

Would they have filled out a form, and then him go on his way?

How do they prove they cash wasn't his?


If you or I, were taking more than $10,000 into Mexico, would it be seized AFTER we declare it?

Would we be detained for hours, while B.P. scratches it's ass?


-pa