Customs seize US$ 58,000 from airline passengers

Security and intelligence officials from the Customs office (DGA) seized 58,057 dollars from two sisters who entered the country without declaring the cash, via Américas International Airport (AILA).

According to the officers, Carmen Yanelfi and Yadelkis Altagracia Baldera Gómez told Customs agents they only brought US$10,000, but when the officers proceeded to check their baggage they discovered US$58,057 in cash hidden in the sisters' sports bags.

When questioned about the cash, the sisters indicated that they did not know of its existence. They had arrived in the country from New York, United States, on Jet Blue flight 825, according to a document sent by the DGA.

The Dominican money laundering act (#70), states that persons who leave or enter the country are obliged to declare any amount above US$10,000.

Customs urged foreigners and Dominicans arriving from abroad to declare the amount of cash when travellng, where the amount exceeds ten thousand dollars, in order to avoid arrest, risk the money being confiscated and face charges of trafficking in foreign currency.

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