Letters

HOSEP BAJAKAJIAN: SEIZURE INJUSTICE

* Re the article about Hosep Bajakajian and his problems with the U.S.
customs authorities, who seized $357,144 that he had hidden from them when
he was embarking for Syria in 1994 (Nov. 4):

The authorities have since learned that Bajakajian's only crime was
concealing the money itself, since he had obtained it entirely legally, and
was taking it to Syria to repay debts to relatives.

However, under our drug laws, the government is permitted to seize and keep
this money, because "it was involved in a crime." Never mind that the
"crime" was simply that it was concealed; the government can and probably
will keep the man's money anyway.

This is another example of an illconceived law, intended to be a tool in
the war on drugs, that has been misapplied simply because the opportunity
to do so arose.

This is an outrageous injustice, and it is another example of adhering
rigidly to the letter of the law but ignoring its original intent, which
was ostensibly to combat drug dealers. The man's money should be returned
to him, minus a reasonable fine for having broken the law by concealing the
money in the first place.

DON M. HOWARD
Rancho Cucamonga

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