Thread: C.B.P. seizes $1 million outbound currency

C.B.P.News Release

CBP Officers Seize $1 Million in Undeclared Outbound Currency from FAST Driver at World Trade Bridge

(Monday, April 13, 2009)

Laredo, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Laredo port of entry conducting outbound operations this Easter weekend and seized $1 million in undeclared currency from a driver enrolled in a trusted shipper program.

The seizure occurred about 2 p.m. on April 11, at World Trade Bridge. CBP officers conducting outbound (southbound) inspections referred a 1999 Freightliner tractor hauling a shipment of appliances driven by Jose Luis Martinez Gonzalez, a 26-year-old Mexican citizen from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico for a secondary examination.

The driver gave a negative declaration for currency in excess of $10,000, weapons or ammunition. A routine inspection of the tractor cab resulted in a canine alert to the mattress in the sleeper cab area. A non-intrusive imaging system scan indicated anomalies in the same area. A closer visual inspection of the area revealed tape-wrapped bundles of U.S. currency hidden under the mattress.

More than $1 million in undeclared currency is discovered leaving the country.

CBP officers discovered bundles containing $1,000,035.00 in undeclared currency underneath the mattress in the sleeper area of the cab. CBP officers arrested Martinez Gonzalez on federal bulk cash smuggling charges and turned him over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents who investigated the seizure. The tractor was seized by CBP officers.

“Our CBP officers working hand in glove in southbound inspections together with Border Patrol agents and ICE special agents have been making excellent bulk currency interceptions in the outbound arena recently and this is an impressive seizure to add to the accomplishments of our outbound team,â€

Out bound inspections can pay for themselves, maybe even make a profit, like this.
And we get to take his old truck off the road.

If we catch drugs coming into the country all we can do is destroy them.

Go CBP. At least someone is doing something to balance the Federal budget.