CARRYING CASH? YOU MUST BE A CROOK!

Feds Reward Carriers Who Tip Them Off About Cash-Heavy Customers

Got a hot tip on a racehorse? Sell all your old Mad magazines and have a
sudden urge to zip down to New Orleans for a weekend of jazz and
gambling? Before you stuff your pockets with Franklins and rush to the
train station or airport, you'd better think twice -- the money you save
might be your own.

For years, travelers have been subject to the scrutiny of police and
customs officers at train stations and airports. But disclosures of a
quiet relationship between Amtrak and the federal Drug Enforcement
Agency to share the proceeds of cash seized from travelers have alarmed
civil libertarians and outraged some defense attorneys.

As it turns out, similar profit-making arrangements have long been in
place with many of the nation's air carriers, according to Sherry
Strange, assistant special agent-in-charge at Atlanta's DEA office. In
fact, she says, in addition to a "very successful" relationship with
Amtrak over the years (including some seizures and arrests at Amtrak's
Brookwood Station downtown), it's at Hartsfield International Airport
where an observant ticket agent or bag-handler can really rack up some
extra bucks for his employer by keeping an eye open.

"We've had several good ones recently," Strange says. "There was a plane
charter that came through Hartsfield with 49 kilos of cocaine and three
arrests, and a number of seizures at the international terminal; customs
handled most of those ... and a domestic flight where over $600,000 was
seized about two months ago."

As with Amtrak, she says the 10 percent payoff for such tips is
generally the rule, "but it's not set in stone." It's those cash
seizures -- and the bounties paid to the tipsters -- that worry some
critics.

"It's an inherent conflict of interest," says Jonesboro attorney Lee
Sexton. "What happens is that all the gate agents and ticket agents have
a profile they use ... you pay for your ticket in cash, and you just
stay one day, and you have little luggage, then that ticket agent or
whatever will call DEA and say, 'Here, I've got a suspect for you.' "

Sexton says one of his clients -- the brother of a prominent state
lawmaker -- was detained after paying cash for a ticket to Florida for a
trip to the dog races. When agents found $30,000 in cash, Sexton says,
they took it.

Such occasions offer a glimpse into the workings of federal forfeiture
laws, which allow police to seize cash and property and then force the
owner to go to court and prove it is not the proceeds of crime -- a
bizarre reversal of American jurisprudence.

In the Amtrak case, a Vietnamese man paid cash for a one-way ticket from
California to Boston. When a DEA computer linked to Amtrak's New Mexico
office flagged the passenger, agents boarded the train and asked to
search his belongings. They didn't find any drugs, but they found
$149,000, which the man said were gambling winnings. In fighting to get
his money back, the man's lawyer uncovered the arrangement by which
Amtrak is entitled to 10 percent, unless his lawyer wins back the money
- -- minus legal fees, of course.

And in April, according to a California judicial reform organization,
Amtrak passenger Jennifer Leigh Ames was relieved of $640,000 after
refusing to allow police to search her bags.

"Believe me, we have a lot of people who are thankful that we do that,"
says Amtrak spokesman Kevin Johnson. "Because people who are involved in
illicit drug activity usually have guns with them and other bad things."

The DEA's Strange says these profit-sharing arrangements go back to
1984, when Congress passed laws allowing police wide latitude in seizing
personal property and cash. Amtrak officials say they have no idea how
much has been collected over the years.

Amtrak officials also have dismissed concerns that such practices might
violate U.S. privacy laws, which prohibit government agencies from
sharing identifying data without going through proper procedures. Amtrak
maintains that it was created by Congress as a private corporation and
is thus immune to Privacy Act standards.

"When you buy an Amtrak ticket, you provide your name, a method of
payment and a contact [telephone] number," says Amtrak spokeswoman Lynn
Bowersox. "That's the only information that we would have to provide any
law enforcement agency."

According to Strange, several criteria -- which she declines to reveal
- -- are used by would-be profilers to target passengers for scrutiny.
And, she says, while the past year or so has been quiet at Brookwood,
rail carrier tip-offs have led to hundreds of seizures over the years.
Questions as to how much money has been seized from Amtrak, forwarded to
DEA's Washington, D.C., headquarters, remain "under review" by the
agency, as do queries about air carrier profits, including those for
Atlanta-based Delta.

Robert Tsai at the Georgia affiliate of the American Civil Liberties
Union says the incidents raise two troubling issues.

"I'm aware of some complaints that the DEA and Amtrak may have been
engaged in racial profiling, so we're obviously interested in that,"
Tsai says. But also, he says, paying a company to forward private
information from unsuspecting customers to a police agency may raise
Constitutional issues.

"The DEA's not shielded from the Constitution just because some private
company's doing the work for them," he says.

Perhaps understandably, publicity-conscious airlines prefer not to
highlight such arrangements. Delta spokesman Russ Williams initially
said he knew nothing of any profit-sharing deal with DEA, but said he'd
look into the matter. Subsequent efforts to reach him for comment have
proved futile.

Strange also declines to name individual airlines. "The airlines are
very sensitive about naming them, because of liability issues. And they
don't want their employees working for us and for them at the same time,
and so we try to protect their identities."

DEA and other law enforcement agencies say forfeiture is a key component
in their fight against drug trade, and point to mid-boggling figures --
DEA seized more than $276 million in 1999 alone.

But Sexton says paying off airlines -- or their employees -- for tips on
passengers is not only an invitation for abuse, but also an invasion of
privacy.

In fact, says Strange, concerns about liability for acting as surrogate
cops may be putting the brakes on their profit-sharing activities.
Amtrak reportedly will begin notifying passengers that their information
may be shared with police.

And airlines also are getting more careful, she says, "because there are
some pretty heavy liability issues involved." Delta, for instance, "now
has a policy of asking their employees not to cooperate with us," she
says, referring any further questions to Delta.

Meanwhile, there's always the bus. While DEA has been trying to work out
a deal with Greyhound, says Agent Strange, nothing has been set up yet.
And it's not likely to be, says Greyhound spokeswoman Jamille Bradfield.

"The majority of our tickets are bought with cash, we don't require any
ID, and most of our passengers buy one-way tickets less than two hours
prior to departure ... so most of them would fit the profile."