Customs agents in Argentina confiscate bibles bound for the United States with $16,800 illegally hidden and taped to pages
Customs agents in Argentina seize Bibles bound for the United States with $16,800 illegally hidden and pasted into pages
- Customs agents at Ezeiza International Airport last week seized $16,800 hidden in three bibles
- The books were packed in a box that was delivered to the United States via DHL
- There was $10,000 hidden in one bible. Another had $4,300 and a third had $2,500 spread across the pages
A package sent from Argentina bound for the United States was intercepted after customs officials discovered that a devious criminal had illegally hidden thousands of dollars in an unexpected place: the Holy Bible.
Three bibles with a value of $16,800 on the pages were seized before the box they came in could be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane at Ezeiza International Airport last week.
The arrest was made possible when a sniffer dog from the General Directorate of Customs discovered an irregularity with the cardboard box.
Footage from the bust shows an officer pulling out a bible and unzipping it before turning the pages to find one with a $100 bill.
An agent from Argentina’s Directorate General of Customs opened a box containing three Bibles used to hide $16,800 being shipped to the United States
$2,500 was hidden in one of three bibles seized by customs agents at Ezeiza International Airport last week
Some Bible pages had as many as four $100 bills stacked on top of each other
He continued and came across several pages that had four $100 bills superimposed on each other.
Proceeding to check a second bible, the officer unzipped the cover and saw another four $100 bills stacked on top of each other on the page.
Sources familiar with the investigation told the Argentine newspaper La Nación that one of the bibles was filled with $10,000.
Another had hidden $4,300 and a third had $2,500 scattered across its pages.
The money was turned over to the Federal Administration of Public Revenue as part of the investigation.
Customs agents at Argentina’s Ezeiza International Airport last week seized three $16,800 Bibles shipped to the United States via DHL
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, it is legal to carry “currency or other monetary instruments” not exceeding $10,000 “or its foreign equivalent” to the United States from another country or from the United States to another country .
However, any amount over $10,000 must be declared through a paper form or online.
It is also illegal for a family living in the same household to split an amount that totals more than $10,000.
Foreign travelers leaving the United States with more than $10,000 must sign a waiver prior to departure.