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US IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT WITH THE CUSTOMS AUTHORITY OF MEXICO DISCOVERED OVER $ 2 Million USD BOUND FOR PANAMA > 
FROM THE -
JOURNALS of Monte Friesner >
Financial Crime Consultant for WANTED SA >
Sunday November 21, 2010 >
WANTED SA has learned today that the Customs Authority of Mexico - the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT), with assistance from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), seized over $2 million at Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport.
Julio Alonso Soto, who is a Mexican National, concealed the currency in his luggage while trying to depart the airport for The Republic of Panama. The Mexican authorities arrested Soto and seized the currency for federal prosecution by the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR).
U.S. and Mexican investigators continue to follow-up on all in investigative leads resulting from this seizure and arrest.
In October, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton joined senior Mexican officials to host the first-ever graduation of Mexican customs officials from a 10-week, ICE-led investigator training course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy in North Charleston, S.C. Twenty-four men and women from SAT participated in the inaugural session of the Mexican customs investigator training conducted by ICE agents.
The course included coursework in both Mexican and U.S. customs law, as well as training in a wide variety of investigative techniques, officer safety tactics, and ethics - helping to provide the graduates with the tools and knowledge necessary to combat cross-border crime, including money laundering, customs offenses and weapons and drug trafficking, in close coordination with ICE special agents and other U.S. law enforcement officials.
ICE is the largest investigative arm of DHS, charged with enforcing a wide array of laws, including those related to financial crime, trade fraud, narcotics smuggling, cash smuggling, and others. ICE has taken a leading role in combating bulk cash smuggling.
In 2005, ICE teamed with CBP to launch Operation Firewall, a comprehensive law enforcement operation targeting criminal organizations involved in the smuggling of large quantities of U.S. currency.
The ICE Office of International Affairs is a critical asset in this mission, responsible for enhancing national security by conducting and coordinating international investigations involving transnational criminal organizations and serving as ICE's liaison to counterparts in local government and law enforcement.
With agents in over 65 locations around the world, including Mexico City, the ICE Office of International Affairs works with their foreign counterparts to identify and combat transnational criminal organizations before they threaten the United States.
WANTED SA thanks to the US Immigration & Customs Enforcement who contributed to this report and all the Parties, Press, Law Enforcement and Securities forces who have contributed to this article and their sincere opinions and statements.
WANTED SA states that the facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of WANTED SA. We do not warrant the accuracy of any of the facts and opinions stated in this article nor do we endorse them or accept any form of responsibility for the articles.
