ICE assisted Mexican authorities in seizing over $2.4 million concealed inside telephone cable on June 16, according to the agency.
ICE assisted Mexican authorities in seizing over $2.4 million concealed inside telephone cable on June 16, according to the agency.
Mexico's customs authority, the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT), with help from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), seized the money concealed inside four large rolls of telephone cable at the cargo facility of Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport. The money was to be placed on a flight bound for Caracas, Venezuela, according to ICE.
The seizure was the result of joint HSI and SAT efforts under Operation Firewall, a law enforcement operation targeting criminal organizations involved in the smuggling of large quantities of U.S. currency.
SAT seized the currency for federal prosecution by the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR). U.S. and Mexican investigators continue to follow-up on all investigative leads.
HSI is the largest investigative arm of DHS, which is responsible for enforcing financial crime, trade fraud, narcotics smuggling, cash smuggling laws, has taken a leading role in combating bulk cash smuggling, said ICE.
HSI’s Office of International Affairs is responsible for conducting and coordinating international investigations involving transnational criminal organizations and serving as HSI's liaison to counterparts in local government and law enforcement, according to ICE, making it a critical tool in the effort to stem cash smuggling. It has agents in 69 offices in 47 countries, including Mexico City, and works with their foreign counterparts to identify and combat transnational criminal organizations before they threaten the United States, said ICE.
Last October, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton joined senior Mexican officials to host the first-ever graduation of Mexican customs officials from a 10-week, HSI-led investigator training course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy in North Charleston, SC Twenty-four men and women from SAT participated in the inaugural session of the Mexican customs investigator training conducted by HSI agents, according to ICE.
The course included coursework in both Mexican and U.S. customs law, as well as training in a wide variety of investigative techniques, officer safety tactics, and ethics - helping to provide the graduates with the tools and knowledge necessary to combat cross-border crime, including money laundering, customs offenses and weapons and drug trafficking, in close coordination with HSI special agents and other U.S. law enforcement officials, it said.
gsnmagazine.com
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