Thread: $640K found inside tortilla press machines at CVG

Customs officers made the biggest cash seizure ever Saturday at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport when they discovered almost $640,000 hidden inside tortilla press machines from Mexico.

The officers spotted something unusual during a routine X-ray of the boxes and decided to drill into one of the presses' rollers.

When the drill bit came out, it was covered in green and white bits of $100 bills.

"They were surprised to find paper money coming out," said Brian Bell, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "The rollers could barely hold the money."

Authorities say the officers then tore open all of the boxes containing the 16 tortilla press machines and found cash stuffed into the rollers on each of them.

Customs officers are used to finding money and drugs in strange places - last year they found marijuana in a tombstone - but the discovery late Saturday is by far their largest cash seizure.

Bell said the packages were passing through the airport's DHL hub while headed from Mexico to Bogota, Colombia.

He said all 16 presses were sent from the same person in Mexico and authorities now are trying to track down the sender as well as the intended recipient. Customs would not release the name of either person.

Investigators typically have a tough time tracking international packages containing illicit drugs or money because those involved often use phony names and other tricks to conceal their identities.

In the case of the tombstone, for example, no one was ever arrested because every name attached to the package turned out to be an alias.

http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/ar ... nav%7Chead

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