$27K In Cash Seized From Family By Dulles Airport Customs Officers

DULLES, VA — Customs and Border Protection officers at Washington Dulles International Airport seized $27,330 in unreported currency from a family traveling to Ethiopia for vacation on Sunday, according to a release.

CBP officers stopped a family of five at a departure gate and asked the father, who was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Ethiopia, how much currency his family was carrying. He answered $8,000. The officers reminded that man about the U.S. currency reporting law and requested that he annotate the back of the form explaining the law.

As the father began to write out how much currency he was carrying, his oldest son said that he was also carrying $8,000. The man then finished filling out the form for the total amount of money.

Although federal law does not limit the amount of currency or other monetary instruments travelers can carry into or out of the U.S., all travelers must report all currency of $10,000 or more. In those circumstances, travelers must report the currency to a CBP officer or fill out a U.S. Treasury Department Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments [FINCEN 105].

When CBP officers inspected the family's carry-on baggage a short time later, they discovered an additional $11,000. The officers then searched the family's checked baggage but didn't find any more currency.

Since the family had failed to report the additional currency, the officers seized a total of $27,330, returned $830, and released them. The family had to rebook their Ethiopian Airlines flight for the next day, because they had missed the only flight that was leaving to that destination on Sunday.

CBP did not identify the family members because they were not criminally charged.

“We cannot make this point enough, travelers can carry all the currency they want to and from the United States, but U.S. federal law requires them to complete a simple form for amounts of $10,000 or greater. It really is that easy,” said Daniel Escobedo, CBP’s area port Director for the Area Port of Washington, D.C., in a release.