Federal agents seized more than $25,000 in cash in the Indianapolis area. The feds noted that the cash was packed in a suspicious manner, which leads them to think that the money was from a large drug transaction.


A court filing shows that US postal inspectors often check packages in the mail, and a drug sniffing canine pinpointed a package that was going through the mail facility in Indianapolis on South High School Road.


The dog informed its master that it detected narcotics of some kind. This prompted the feds to get a search warrant to open up the package.


The court papers in the case noted that the postal inspectors thought that the package was suspicious because the return address was different than where it was mailed from. Also, the address that the package was being sent to had suspicious markings of some kind and the names were not matching.


When the feds opened the package with the search warrant, they found there was an empty box that filled up most of the Express Mail package. They also noted there was a small box that was gift wrapped. It was about the size of a book. In the gift box, the agents noted there was a plastic bag that was vacuum sealed and contained $24,100 in cash, with $100 bills, $50 bills and various other currency.


A couple in Bloomington filed the claim with the US postal service, noting that their lawyer stated that the cash was supposed to be for a down payment to buy a house. The attorney stated that the cash was not for any illegal purpose.


The US Postal Service wanted to see more information to prove that the cash was for real estate, but they stated that the attorney could not provide any additional details supporting this claim.


For years, postal inspectors have seized cash from suspicious packages through the use of US drug forfeiture laws. This practice has become controversial in other cities when inspectors do not find any trace of narcotics, but they are able to convince a court to seize the cash because there is a suspicion of drug activity of some kind.


In this Indianapolis case, the postal inspectors stated that the funds are drug money because the package has suspicious markings and the return address does not match where the package was mailed from. Also, the cash was shrink wrapped and the drug sniffing dog did smell narcotics on the package.


There has been a court hearing set and the couple will have the chance to prove to a federal judge that the cash was for a legitimate purpose. If they cannot prove that the cash was to be used for real estate, the federal government will keep the money.


In an unrelated case, US border patrol agents had a major cash seizure of almost $270,000 in cash at an inspection checkpoint on Interstate 10 in New Mexico.


Agents discovered 15 vacuum sealed bundles of cash that were hidden in a rear quarter panel of a truck that was hauling several cars. The truck driver stated that he did not know anything about the cash. The cars and the cash were seized by the US Border Patrol.


This bust followed another bust where the border patrol found 18 packages of marijuana and a backpack that had $5000 in cash in another inspection of another semi truck on NM Highway 26. The marijuana totalled 430 pounds and had a value of over $300,000. In that case, the truck, drugs,money and driver were handed over to the DEA.


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