Tijuana, Baja California — An American man found attempting to enter Mexico with unclaimed cash has been arrested. The arrest of the unnamed man happened at the Tijuana Customs check at the Baja California border with the U.S.
“Baja California members of the National Guard (GN) and the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM ) arrested a person who intended to enter Mexican territory in possession of more than $56,000 USD in cash and checks,” the agency reported in a statement.
The man was taken into legal custody after failing to prove he declared the money with Mexico’s tax administration — Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT).
Personnel from the Agencia Nacional de Aduanas de México (ANAM) found the cash during an X-ray inspection at the El Chaparral checkpoint. The money was found stashed in his backpack.
“In the backpack they located wads of bills as well as five checks of different amounts. When questioning him about the amount he had he said it was $20,000 dollars. They asked if he had the corresponding declaration before SAT and he stated that he did not have it, thereby violating Article 9 of the Customs Law,” the agency explained in a statement.
“To corroborate, staff counted the amount of $47,300 USD in cash and five checks that totaled $9,543.08 in foreign currency. The total of the cash and collectible documents was $56,843.08 dollars, which according to the exchange rate of the day, is equivalent to more than 981,000 Mexican pesos,” they added.
The unnamed American man was detained and registered in the National Registry of Detentions and, together with the bills and checks, were made available to the Federal Public Ministry Agency of Baja California.
Last week, a Canadian man was arrested from inside the Cancun International Airport after being found in possession of $300,000 in unclaimed money.
