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V11 2008 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
COUNTERFEIT CASH SMUGGLED FROM TAIWAN IN FISH TINS
How does the counterfeit U.S. currency find its way to the
U.S.? According to a San Francisco Chronicle article, at least one
smuggler camouflaged the cash in tins of dried fish. -Editor
A
Taiwanese woman has been charged in federal court with smuggling $380,000
in counterfeit $100 bills in a package of dried seafood, court records
show.Mei Ling Chen, 46, was charged with bringing counterfeit currency into the United States.
Chen was arrested Tuesday at her former husband's home in Sunnyvale, four days after customs agents intercepted a package at San Francisco International Airport that had been shipped from Taiwan, authorities said in documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
The customs declaration described the package as a gift containing candy and books, Secret Service senior special agent William Bishop wrote in an affidavit. But when a customs agent opened the parcel to make sure it didn't contain prohibited food items, he found four pouches containing fake $100 bills wrapped in newspaper, Bishop wrote.
The pouches, holding $380,000 in fake bills in all, were hidden among 20 bags of dried seafood, authorities said.
The currency appeared to be "supernotes," fake money that is of such high quality that the fraud goes undetected until the cash reaches the Federal Reserve Bank, authorities said.
To read the complete article, see: Woman charged with smuggling counterfeit cash (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/17/BA5211QTEC.DTL)
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
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