The Boston Herald August 16, 2009
Fliers break cash-smuggling record
By Jessica Fargen
The number of people caught trying to sneak cash in and out of the country is skyrocketing nationally and in New England, customs data show, with “hot money” being detected in diaper boxes, money belts, underwear, baby clothes, bras and candy boxes.
Nationally, seizure totals have soared by 50 percent, from about $50 million to $75 million, between 2005 and 2008, according to figures provided to the Sunday Herald by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Seizure amounts are up 66 percent in New England during the same four years, from $1.5 million to $2.5 million.
According to customs data, at least $2.1 million has been seized in New England during the current fiscal year, and the region is on a pace to hit $3 million for 2009.
Summer has been very active. Between June 1 and Aug. 12, data show, 35 seizures totaling $856,119 have been made in New England.
“We do not know why there is such a huge increase in the number of seizures this past summer,” said Ted Woo, spokesman for the Boston Field Office of CBP. Speculation ranges from tighter overall inspections at border crossings to a growing number of people trying to ferret money overseas due to recession and economic tumult.
Funneling hot money is a vital law enforcement concern because it is often connected to drugs and global terrorism, said John Pike, director of the military and security Web site globalsecurity.org.
“Drug dealers and terrorists are going to try to use cash because it’s much more difficult for law enforcement to trace their activities,” he said. “If they are operating through the banking system it’s too easy to track. Cash is hard to trace and it’s easy to spend.”
Small fraction halted
Cash smuggling is notoriously hard to contain, Pike added.
“There’s such a small fraction of stuff that gets inspected,” he said.
While the skyrocketing seizures show that federal and state officials are growing far more adept at spotting money smugglers, the amounts seized represent “a very small percentage of the cash that’s carried out of the country,” agreed George N. Naccara, federal security director with the Transportation Security Administration at Logan International Airport.
Naccara said a man was snagged at Logan with $8,000 strapped to his bare chest with duct tape.
“What a move,” he laughed.
Experts said they could not estimate how much total currency is being smuggled into and out of the country. But they agreed that growing seizures reflect both a spike in attempts and overall better training and enforcement.
By law, international travelers must make a written declaration if they are carrying $10,000 or more into or out of the country.
Creative ways of hiding illicit cash are seen across the nation.
On July 20, Customs and Border officers at the Laredo, Texas, crossing with Mexico seized $99,480 in undeclared currency inside a box of detergent, prompting quips about “laundered” money.
Most of the seizures in New England turn out to involve cash obtained through noncriminal activities, said Woo. Such violators face civil penalties - usually a large fine - but not prosecution.
One U.S. citizen was detected at Logan with $27,000 in undeclared cash tucked in a briefcase on July 4. In October, agents seized $26,000 from a 48-year-old Ethiopian before his plane took off from Logan. Neither was prosecuted.
Woo said CBP policy is to withhold the names of people caught carrying undeclared cash that turns out to be of legitimate origins. Cases where the money is deemed to have been criminally acquired can be prosecuted.
Naccara said airport security practices - which include behavioral profiling - are designed to detect explosives or weapons, not cash. But he said those same tactics can lead to the arrest of cash smugglers behaving nervously or wearing money vests beneath their clothes. He said it is unknown how many people sneak through security or customs bearing illicit currency each year. He also estimates that many offenders aren’t caught.
Fresh focus by feds
Some of the increase in captures can be traced to a flood of federal dollars and resources made available post-9/11, when CBP was created in its current form under the Department of Homeland Security and received ultramodern detection equipment that can spot contraband as well as weaponry.
There has also been a push to catch cash and drug traffickers on the southern border, said Dennis McKenzie, director of fines, penalties and forfeitures for the Office of Field Operations at CBP in Washington, created in 2003.
“It’s a nationwide trend,” he said. “We basically have a lot more training and a lot more equipment at our disposal.”
Mitch Librett, professor of criminal justice at Bridgewater State College, believes the spike can be explained by the reorganization of federal agencies after 9/11.
“What it reflects is the evolution of new agencies that are hitting their stride in terms of their ability to carry out their assignments,” said Librett, a former New York police officer. “They are getting better at what they do.”
Cash smuggling is such a concern that, during July, agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security cooperated in a G-8 crackdown at international airports and ports of entry. The operation netted $7 million in undeclared currency and cash seizures.
CBP Acting Commissioner Jayson Ahern said the international effort sends a message to terrorists and criminals, and to people trying to secrete money out of the country. “We stand resolved,” he said in a statement, “to confront their operations at every turn.”
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