-Caveat Lector- From: Permanent Tourist [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, August 06, 2001 Subject: [OPC] Cash Cops patrolling US Airports! "Offshore & Privacy Secrets, August 6th, 2001" Published by Offshore & Privacy Club http://www.permanenttourist.com Cash Cops patrol US Airports It has to be one of the stranger sights at Newark International Airport. Passengers entering a jet-way for a flight overseas are suddenly confronted by uniformed U.S. Customs Service inspectors politely asking to see passports or airline ticket receipts, and ultimately getting around to a very personal question: "How much money are you carrying?" And if the replies to that and a few additional questions are troubling, the inspector may soon be crouched on the floor, counting out the traveler's cash. Suddenly, a carpet of greenbacks is covering floor tile as inspectors make little piles amounting to thousands and thousands of dollars. "It's a rare occurrence," said Rich O'Brien, Customs' deputy chief inspector at the airport. But when it happens, it looks like an obviously disconcerted traveler has been forced into a craps game. Is this legal? Bet your bottom dollar it is. In an effort to hit the narcotics trade in the pocketbook, laws enacted in 1988 require Customs to interdict the cash proceeds en route to suppliers overseas. Congress did not make taking cash out of the U.S. illegal. It doesn't even set a limit. The government just wants to know if passengers are carrying over $10,000. In that case, they are required to fill out Customs Form 4790, a document shared with the Internal Revenue Service. Money orders, securities and traveler's checks count toward the total. To make sure the law is being observed Customs dispatches "Buck Stop" patrols to jet-ways every day. Last year, they seized more than $55.9 million from 1,351 travelers. Kennedy International in New York, with $12.7 million, was the top cash cow. Miami was next with $8.8 million. Newark was third with $3.5 million or a little more than a dollar for every outbound traveler on an overseas flight. So far this year, $2.4 million has been seized at Newark, including the June 19 haul of more than $800,000 that filled a suitcase of shoes. Refunds can be sought. But for about 75 percent of the seized money, hearings determine that it has been made illegally, and the U.S. Treasury winds up keeping it. Ignorance of the law costs a traveler a fine, not a complete forfeiture. Customs inspectors say they wish more people knew of the reporting requirement. "We're concerned it's a difficult thing for people to understand," said airport Chief Inspector Bill Brush. Customs has airport information kiosks and sometimes makes gate announcements. But surprise is evident on the faces of passengers when they come to a "Buck Stop" just as they think they're finally headed for their seats on the plane. Years ago, operations were conducted by inspectors in plain clothes in full view of everyone in the waiting areas around gates. Nowadays, the only tip-off comes as travelers pass through the jet-way door and are greeted by a phalanx of uniformed -- and armed -- inspectors. Any counts are likely to be made discreetly, at the bottom of a stairwell. Like their counterparts who screen incoming travelers, inspectors run though Customs computers the passenger lists of outgoing flights, to single out those with criminal records or travel histories that deem them potential targets. Flights with the highest numbers of seizures are those headed for Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic; Bogotá, Colombia; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. O'Brien said Newark Airport's two teams inspect about 63 percent of the outbound international flights, targeting what he called "high-risk" destinations in the main-source countries for narcotics: in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, eastern Asia and some flights to north Europe. During the first quarter, only two-tenths of 1 percent of the people on those flights, or 2,088 passengers, were stopped and asked to open their bags, or had their money counted. Among luggage, currency has been found tightly rolled up inside shampoo bottles, in the battery compartments of stereos, or replacing the felt inside fat marking pens. Some people hollow out candles, stuff the money inside, and then melt on a new wax bottom. There are also the false-bottom bags and bags with cash lining the sides. To find it, Customs has a van equipped with an X-ray machine that it brings to baggage belts under the airport's terminals prior to an outbound flight. The personal searches take place as soon as gate agents begin to allow passengers to board. Inspectors look for bulging pockets, or for extra girth that may come from a money belt. Cash has also been found stuffed in girdles and in bicycle pants worn beneath flowing sundresses, said inspector Herb Herter, who has been supervising Buck Stop teams for three of his 10 years at the airport. "There's a high level of concern for intrusion," O'Brien said. Indeed, Senior Inspector Dominick Maddalena seemed to go out of his way to put at ease the young man he had asked to the bottom of the stairwell for a cash count one Tuesday afternoon. After opening a carry-on bag and noticing multiple U.S. passports, Maddalena was told by the man that they were of family members who had already boarded the flight for Panama and Guayaquil, Ecuador. "They're probably wondering where you are," Maddalena said quietly. "But we'll have you on the plane in a few minutes." The fat envelope the man produced looked promising, as Maddalena fanned multiple faces of Benjamin Franklin and Ulysses Grant. But it all came to the $4,500 the man had written down on the front of Form 530, which explains the law, that Maddalena had asked him to read and sign before Maddalena began the count. After the inspector was finished, the envelopes were returned and the man was asked to sign the back of the form, acknowledging his cash had been returned. Gathering his belongings and heading for the plane, the man declined to give his name but said, "It's okay," when asked whether he was surprised by the stop. Nearby, a man with the Ecuadorian passport said "Thank you" to the inspector as he walked away from his count. Somehow, though, it seemed it was said more out of nervousness than genuine gratitude. Reuters 15 July 2001 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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