$68K Seized From Travelers Boarding Flight To Egypt At Dulles Airport

HERNDON, VA — Customs officers at Washington Dulles International Airport seized $68,000 in unreported currency from a Nigeria-bound family on Thursday.

During an outbound inspection of passengers leaving on a flight to Cairo, Egypt, CBP officers encountered the family who were on their way to Nigeria. The father told the officers that his family was carrying $10,000 and that he had reported that on his signed FINCEN form.

When the officers searched the travelers' carryon bags, they found multiple envelopes carrying additional currency. The family also surrendered additional currency to the officers. After seizing $68,000, the CBP officers returned the remaining $216 to the family as a humanitarian release and allowed them to resume their journey.

There is no limit to how much money or other monetary instruments a traveler may bring into or out of the U.S. However, U.S. law requires travelers to report all currency of $10,000 and more that they are carrying to the CBP and fill out a U.S. Treasury Department Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments [FINCEN 105].

“Seizing a traveler’s currency is a very serious consequence, but one that can easily be avoided just by the traveler truthfully reporting to a Customs and Border Protection officer all of the currency they are taking with them,” said Marc E. Calixte, area port director for CBP’s Area Port of Washington, D.C.

In addition to having their unreported money seized by CBP, travelers who do not truthfully report all of their currency may be criminally prosecuted for bulk currency smuggling.

In 2022, CBP officers seized about $217,700 daily in unreported or illicit currency along U.S. boarders.