Does $27 million have a smell? That’s how this agent found it, U.S. Customs says
A $27 million smuggling operation got sniffed out Saturday before the ferrying boat could reach the U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Puerto Rico said.
The sniffing was done by a K-9 agent. What he sniffed wasn’t drugs, CBP said, but 34 cargo boxes of vacuum-packed cash.
According to CBP and the Justice Department, the vessel MV Norma H II Voyage 818 was undergoing an outbound inspection before leaving Pier 10 in San Juan for St. Thomas when the K-9 agent let his handlers know something was funky in some home moving boxes.
When officers opened up a box, they found U.S. currency. They opened more boxes and found more cash. Customs seized the money as cash over $10,000 but not declared.
“This is without a doubt a historic money seizure in the Caribbean Region,” DEA Caribbean Division Special Agent in Charge A.J. Collazo said in a statement. “Most likely, more than one transnational criminal organization is involved and seriously bleeding at this very moment.”
