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."