A Nigerian couple has lost $15,860 to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after failing to report currency in their possession at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).
CBP announced in a statement on Tuesday that the couple arrived last Friday from London and reported to CBP officers that they possessed $15,000.
An additional $5,850 was found in the woman’s purse.
The officers seized the total $20,850 and released $4,990 to the couple as humanitarian relief without pressing charges.
The names of the couple were not given in the statement.
US federal law requires travellers who possess $10,000 or more in currency or other monetary instruments to report it all to a CBP officer at the airport, seaport, or land border crossing when entering or leaving the country.
US Customs said it is perfectly legal to carry large sums of currency in or out of the United States.
However, federal law requires that travellers who possess $10,000 or more in currency or other monetary instruments must report it all to a CBP officer at the airport, seaport, or land border crossing when entering or leaving the country.
“Customs and Border Protection officers are highly trained to uncover illicit activity and they are committed to enforcing the laws of the United States,” said Casey Durst, CBP’s Field Operations Director in Baltimore.
“Unreported currency often can be proceeds from alleged illicit activity, or used to fund transnational criminal organisations and I commend our officers on this interception”.
CBP recently issued travel tips for international travel through BWI. Chiefly among those tips is for travellers to truthfully report all currency they possess to a CBP officer during an inspection.
Consequences for violating U.S. currency reporting laws are severe; penalties may include seizure of most or all of the traveller’s currency, and potential criminal charges.
CBP uses a variety of techniques to intercept narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, and other illicit products, and to assure that global tourism remains safe and strong.
On a typical day, CBP seizes an average of about $290,000 in unreported or illicit currency along our nation’s borders.
