see also: in July 2002:   U.S. Customs Service Inspectors Seize 3,618 Pounds of Cocaine on the Miami River   U.S. Customs Inspectors at Falcon Dam Seize Significant Cocaine Load, Arrest Fugitive   Customs Finds 7,500 Pounds of Marijuana in Tractor-Trailer   U.S. Customs Service Inspectors Seize 392 Pounds of Cocaine on the Miami River   Customs Names Mitchell to Head New York Operations   U.S. Customs, FBI National Intellectual Property Rights Center Holds Industry Outreach Conference ...more

contacts for this news release

WASHINGTON, D.C.--U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Robert C. Bonner today announced that a Customs-led, multi-agency financial crimes task force called Operation Green Quest has seized a total of $22.8 million as part of its ongoing efforts to identify, disrupt, and dismantle terrorist finance networks.

In the nearly nine months it has existed, Operation Green Quest has conducted 74 search warrants and consent searches around the country in connection with investigations into suspected terrorist finances. These investigations have resulted in 38 arrests, 26 indictments, and the seizure of approximately $6.8 million. The task force is currently investigating several hundred leads into potential terrorist finance networks.

In addition, Operation Green Quest has coordinated an interdiction initiative at the nation's borders targeting bulk cash smuggling by terrorist organizations that has resulted in the seizure of $16 million worth of smuggled currency and monetary instruments. Under this initiative, U.S. Customs inspectors at the nation's 301 international airports, land ports, and seaports have made 369 seizures of smuggled currency and monetary instruments.

"Operation Green Quest has moved aggressively against terrorist funding sources," said Customs Commissioner Bonner in highlighting the latest results of the task force during a speech Monday at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. "These seizures have led to millions of dollars of suspected terrorist assets."

Created by the Treasury Department on October 25, 2001 to identify and disrupt terrorist finance networks, Operation Green Quest is led by the Customs Service and includes agents and analysts from the IRS, the Secret Service, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Federal prosecutors from the Justice Department also form an integral part of Operation Green Quest.

Through their investigations, Operation Green Quest agents have been targeting a wide variety of systems that may be used by terrorists to raise and move funds. These systems include illegal enterprises (such as fraud schemes and illegal remittance networks), as well as legitimate enterprises (such as businesses being used to co-mingle illicit funds with legitimate funds), and charity/relief organizations (in which donations may be diverted to terrorist groups).

Another system being targeted by Operation Green Quest is the bulk smuggling of cash and monetary instruments across U.S. borders. U.S. authorities have long suspected that currency smuggling was being used by terrorist groups to covertly move funds across U.S. Borders, just as this practice has been used for years by drug trafficking organizations. U.S. Customs has routinely conducted outbound operations to combat currency smuggling by drug organizations.

While there is no limit on the amount of cash or monetary instruments that can be legally imported or exported, federal law has long required that anyone who physically transports, ships, or mails more than $10,000 in currency or monetary instruments in or out of the country must report it to Customs. For purposes of the law, monetary instruments include traveler's checks, money orders, and investment securities -- in bearer form. The cash smuggling provision of the USA Patriot Act has bolstered sanctions against violators of this requirement.

In an effort to combat bulk cash smuggling by terrorist groups, Operation Green Quest has coordinated an outbound initiative by U.S. Customs inspectors at the nation's air, land, and seaports. To intercept smuggled currency under the initiative, Customs officers rely on inspection technology, training, and a cadre of Customs dogs specifically trained to alert to the scent of dyes and inks in currency. The following are some of the seizures made to date:

• Customs inspectors seized $624,691 worth of smuggled cash hidden in plastic bags that were professionally sewn into the lining of a comforter. The money-laced comforter was in a suitcase bound for the Middle East aboard a commercial flight
• Customs inspectors seized smuggled negotiable checks totaling $1.06 million that were hidden in a parcel bound for the Middle East. The declared value of the parcel was $1.
• Customs inspectors seized a smuggled certificate of deposit worth $297,000 that was concealed in a parcel bound for Central America and which had originated in Asia.

All the $16 million seized thus far under this initiative constitutes unreported currency being smuggled out of the country, which is a felony. At the same time, these 369 seizures have provided a windfall of intelligence and leads for Operation Green Quest, prompting dozens of new investigations around the country. A portion of the seized funds has been linked to suspected terrorist groups, while other amounts have been linked to other criminal suspects.

"The outbound currency initiative is making it more difficult for terrorist organizations and other criminal groups to smuggle cash and monetary instruments across our borders," said Customs Commissioner Bonner. "The initiative is also generating significant intelligence that is helping our agents investigate additional terrorist finance networks."

The currency initiative has also resulted in the arrest of several individuals, including the first to be successfully prosecuted under the new bulk cash smuggling provision of the USA Patriot Act. On Feb. 25, 2002, Jordanian national, Nabeeh Awawdeh, pleaded guilty to violating the new bulk cash smuggling law. Awawdeh was arrested by Customs at the Cleveland airport in Nov. 2001 after attempting to smuggle $30,000 worth of negotiable checks on a flight to Israel.