As the holiday travel rush got started Monday at Dulles International Airport, Customs and Border Protection officers seized a $56,000 shipment of glass bongs and $23,000 in unreported currency.
According to a statement from CBP this week, the shipment of 3,738 glass bongs arrived from China on Oct. 3 and was manifested as “gravity pipes.”
The shipment, which was bound for the Los Angeles area, was detained and later found to contain illegal drug paraphernalia. That seizure was completed on Monday.
Also that day, officers seized unreported currency from a married couple preparing to board a flight to Ghana. They had reported a combined $10,500, but much more was found in an envelope that had been concealed in a bag’s zippered liner.
Officers seized the currency “and then released the couple with $641 as a humanitarian relief,” CBP said. They were not criminally charged.
CBP reminded the public that there is no limit to how much currency one may bring into or take out of the United States, but law requires travelers to report all currency $10,000 or greater to a CBP officer.
