Customs Canine Finds $3M Cash on Southbound Bus
Hoard Seized After Dog Detects It in Bus Traveling From U.S. to Mexico
By JASON RYAN
March 20, 2009 —
A hardworking K-9 on the U.S.-Mexican border appears to have been more successful finding large sums of cash than a bailed out AIG executive.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and an alert dog named Akim Thursday night found almost $3 million in cash stuffed on a bus heading to Mexico from the United States.
Akim, a Labrador retriever trained to detect cash and weapons, alerted the officers to a possible stash of items under the floor of the bus.
Earlier this month, Akim was also involved in a search that resulted in a stash of weapons being found in a pickup truck headed to Mexico, officials said.
The large bus carried several passengers going from the United States to Mexico in the Laredo border sector, and the driver and passengers had declared they had less than $10,000 of currency as they were leaving the United States.
But after an X-ray scan of the bus, officers found 75 taped bundles of cash that totaled $2,997,510.
The money was seized, and the case has been referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for further investigation.
"Our southbound enforcement efforts have been highly successful for the past couple of months," said Gene Garza, field operations port director for Customs and Border Protection in Laredo, Texas. "The work that our officers are doing is truly commendable."
The Obama administration, as part of a border strategy that may be released next week, will look at ways to enhance checks of southbound traffic to look for for guns and cash that may help fuel the violence along the U.S.-Mexican border, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters at a briefing Thursday.