Traveler caught with over $36K in undeclared cash at Philadelphia airport

It wasn’t a loaded gun going through an airport checkpoint this time, but loaded luggage, according to Customs and Border Patrol.

Officials reported seizing $36,834 from a Columbus, Ohio, man at Philadelphia International Airport recently after the man claimed to have $15,000. The man, a U.S. citizen, flew back into the states from Beirut through Paris on Sunday and was randomly selected for a secondary search, according to spokesperson Steve Sapp.

International travelers can carry as much cash as they want, but federal law requires $10,000 or more be reported to a customs agent. A U.S. Treasury form that asks for information about the traveler and the cash must be completed.

Sapp said the $36,834 was seized because the traveler violated currency reporting laws. He was given $834 in what was described as “humanitarian relief” and allowed to continue traveling.

Customs agents in 2023 seized an average of about $183,000 in unreported or illicit cash daily at international ports of entry or at border crossings.

An Allegheny County man experienced a similar situation in 2019 when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration took his $82,373 in life savings. The cash was taken from the man’s daughter as she attempted to board a flight at Pittsburgh International Airport bound for Boston, where she lived.

The family said the South Fayette retiree entrusted his daughter with the money and asked her to open a joint account to help him manage it. The DEA later filed a civil forfeiture notice, informing the family the agency intended to keep the cash.

The money eventually was returned after the family filed a lawsuit with the help of the Institute for Justice.