DEA surveils U.S. travelers, has seized $210 million from suspected drug cash couriers
The Drug Enforcement Administration has used a broad network of travel-industry informants to monitor air and rail travelers in the U.S., pulling aside passengers they view as suspicious and, more often than not, seizing cash and letting the suspect go, USA Today reports, citing interviews with current and former DEA agents and court records. DEA teams used to focus on seizing drugs from mules at airports, but when post-9/11 security overhauls made airline drug trafficking too risky, agents started targeting cash. Since 2006, USA Today says, agents have seized at least $209 million from 5,200 people at the 15 busiest U.S. airports, with $52 million of that seized at Los Angeles International alone.
The DEA says it is trying to siphon money from drug trafficking rings. "We want the cash. Good agents chase cash," George Hood, a retired former DEA team supervisors at Chicago O'Hare, told USA Today. "It was just easier to get the asset, and that's where you make a dent in the criminal organization." Read more about the DEA's surveillance, and some stories of people who got some of their money back, at USA Today.
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