Sunday, October 16, 2011

MEXICAN NATIONAL ACCUSED OF INBOUND BULK CASH SMUGGLING IN NEVADA

Alejandro Diaz-Flores, a Mexican national holding a US Visa, was charged with bulk cash smuggling* in US District Court in Nevada, after $150,000 was found hidden in a vehicle he was driving north, from Las Vegas, Nevada to Salt Lake City, Utah. Flores, who stated to local mesquite, Nevada police at a traffic stop, that he was en en route to visit a friend, later changed his story after the hidden cash was found in the boot, claiming that the money was to pay a debt owed to meat supplier. His story could not be verified.

The defendant had previously arrived in Las Vegas from Mexico via commercial aviation; Mesquite, where the traffic stop occurred, is close to Nevada's border with Arizona. He was remanded into custody after the Court found that there was a risk of flight, and that no set of circumstances could serve to guarantee his appearance in further proceedings. His stated residence is TorreĆ³n, which is near Monterrey, a substantial distance from the US-Mexico frontier.

Unfortunately, US law enforcement rarely intercepts inbound bulk cash smugglers; perhaps information acquired in this case can assist criminal investigators in dismantling a pipeline for inbound illicit cash.
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* United States vs. Diaz-Flores, case No.: 2:11-mj-00666-CWH (D NV) [Note that this is the Magistrate Case Number only].



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