What CBP Found in Kid's Backpack Was Worth a Lot

Literally $141K in cash, in the backpack and a purse, at US-Mexico border
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 1, 2017 12:25 PM CST
What CPB Found in Kid's Backpack Was Worth a Lot
Not something a kid would be bringing to school.   (US Customs and Border Protection, via El Paso Times)

Maybe they forgot to move a decimal point (or two)? Per Customs and Border Protection rules, travelers going to and from the US can carry as much cash as they want, but they have to declare $10,000 or more. And so the $141,200 that CBP officers in Texas found in a kid's backpack and woman's purse over the weekend at El Paso's border with Mexico raised a big red flag, the El Paso Times reports.

The officers were checking cars when they hit the confiscation jackpot in a Ford Focus that was carrying a man, a woman, and two kids into Mexico early Sunday. The money, which was packaged in cellophane and divvied up into more than 12 units, was handed over to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, as were the couple and the car. (One US border city is known as the "nation's meth gateway.")

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