Julio Alonso Soto, a Mexican national, concealed the currency in his luggage while trying to depart the airport for 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.
