Pubdate: Sun, 16 Dec 2001
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2001, The Detroit News
Contact:  http://www.detnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Mike Martindale

METRO SMUGGLING THRIVES

Millions In Illegal Cash, Drug Transports Expected To Grow With 
Expansion Of Airport

ROMULUS -- Metro Detroit, long known as a hot spot for Midwest 
trafficking of cocaine, marijuana and heroin, has become popular for 
the smuggling of cold cash -- and cold tablets.

More than $12.5 million in cash has been seized by customs agents at 
Detroit Metropolitan Airport in the past two years -- more than the 
amount seized in Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles airports 
combined, U.S. Customs agents report.

At the same time, agents in Detroit have confiscated trucks 
containing more than 64.3 million tablets of pseudoephedrine, a 
prescription antihistamine used to make methamphetamine, a 
high-potency illegal street drug.

"Our cash seizures are among the top five in the U.S.," said U.S. 
Customs agent James Dinkens. "We believe people try to move cash 
through the Detroit area for dope dealing, money laundering and 
possibly to finance terrorist activities."

Dinkens said he couldn't discuss specific cases because of continuing 
investigations.

But he said that as Metro Airport grows with the opening of Midfield 
Terminal on Feb. 24, such illegal activity is expected to rise. The 
current 40 daily international flights are expected to triple.

The airport is such a hot spot for money smuggling that in March 
1999, U.S. Customs created a Currency Task Force made up of federal 
officers and police from Dearborn, Livonia and Taylor.

They check to ensure travelers declare cash amounts above $10,000. 
But since 1999, they have found at least 164 incidents where that 
wasn't done, including one seizure of $2.4 million.

"We are one of the most active groups in the nation," said Jerome 
Deaven, special Customs agent in charge of the Currency Task Force.

In 2000, U.S. Customs recorded more than $6.4 million in currency 
seizures in southeast Michigan, with $5.5 million of it at Metro 
Airport. This past year, there have been more than $7.7 million in 
cash seizures, with $7 million snagged at the airport.

"In an age where you can wire any amount of money just about anywhere 
in the world, it's pretty hard to justify taping cash to your body or 
hiding it inside your possessions," Deaven said. "That is, unless you 
are avoiding any kind of paper trail back to you.

"Half of it is suspected dope money, and at least 25 percent of them 
walk away from the cash and don't even challenge the seizures."

Beyond drug traffickers, some business owners who earn the money 
legitimately try to sneak cash out of the United States in an effort 
to evade taxes.

"A lot of it is from gas station and party store owners headed for 
the Mideast," he said. "They make a lot of money and declare no 
profit. Some may even be on food stamps, yet we catch them with 
$150,000 in cash."

"Some will make monthly trips with $50,000, concealing it about 
anyway you can imagine," Deaven said.

"Sewn in clothes, underwear. Wads of $100 bills taped between their 
shoulder blades. Stuffed inside shoes, TV sets, microwaves. Even 
wrapped in plastic and put inside shampoo bottles or a five-gallon 
jug of honey."

Other smugglers have stockpiled large amounts of pseudoephedrine, a 
commonly prescribed antihistamine used illegally in the production of 
methamphetamine. The drug can be bought in bulk for about 50 cents a 
tablet in Canada, Dinkens said.

Opportunists buy large amounts of the drug from legitimate Canadian 
wholesalers, bring it across the border into Michigan and then 
warehouse it or take it by truck to California or other states where 
major methamphetamine dealers eagerly await delivery.

"Meth chemists on the West Coast pay about $3.50 a tablet for them 
and then break them down and use them in the ingredients to make 
methamphetamine, which is sold for much more," Dinkens said.

Law enforcement officers have long recognized Metro Detroit as a hot 
spot for drug use and sales.

Detroit's location on an international border and its proximity to 
Chicago, New York, Toronto and Montreal, all primary urban centers 
with key roles in the North American drug trade, make it a natural 
draw for drug traffickers.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice report, Metro Detroit is a 
hub for retail distribution of cocaine, marijuana and heroin and 
multiple locations for the conversion and distribution of cocaine 
into crack.

The region has been a major consumer and shipment outlet for 
Colombian drug groups based in Florida and New York, Mexican 
organizations centered in the Southwest and Middle Eastern heroin 
organizations.

If linked to drug trafficking purposes, money smuggling is a felony 
punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

But even if derived from or intended for legitimate purposes, money 
smuggling could still be an effort to hide funds for tax purposes and 
is a felony, punishable by fines and up to five years in prison.

"We are not trying to put legitimate businessmen in jail," Deaven 
said. "But it is suspicious when someone has money taped around their 
body. It will be seized as evidence and investigated.

"If everything is legal, the person can petition for it, less a 
penalty charge, usually about five percent. If from illegal gains, it 
will be subject to forfeiture, and the person could face criminal or 
civil prosecution.

"If you are legitimate, you can take $1 million out of the country if 
you want. Just remember to declare it."
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