A U.S. citizen who emigrated from Albania, has filed a lawsuit against customs and border protection (U. S. Customs and Border Protection — CBP).
64-year-old Rustem Kazazi stated that CBP confiscated it at the airport $58 million, not presenting within six months, no charges, and without returning the money.
The Institute for justice (Virginia), representing the interests of Kasasi in court, claims that have already been 2 such action in connection with cash withdrawals in Texas. In one case, a nurse from Houston flew to Nigeria to open a clinic.
«First you need to show the person charge, and then to confiscate something. Otherwise it is not a tool of law and order,» said lawyer Wesley Hottot.
Rustem Kazazi, a retired Albanian policeman moved to Cleveland (Ohio) with his family in 2005.
In October 2017 the man was flying to Albania with a large sum of cash. From Cleveland he had to fly to new Jersey, from new Jersey to Germany, and from there to Albania.
At the airport in Cleveland Kazazi and detained. According to plaintiff, he was not allowed to call the family and has not provided a translator, although he still does not speak good English. Then he seized $58 million «without explanation», however, was not arrested and allowed to continue.
A month later Kazazi received a notice stating that his money are related to «smuggling / drug trafficking / money laundering».
Meanwhile within 7 months his client was not charged with any charges. It’s a deadline, after which the authorities must return the seized funds, said the lawyer Kazazi.
The claim of Albanian says: his family has Bank statements and other documents confirming that their accumulation is done in a legal way.
Passengers carrying more than $10 thousand in cash, do need to declare them, otherwise they face a fine or confiscation of property. But, according to Kazazi, he was going to declare dollars before flying to Germany from new Jersey.
Institute of justice collects information about how often the government conducts such confiscation. «No one knows how often this happens. And the government does not publish this information,» says Wesley Hottot.
Recall, the immigration police of Florida detained on a cruise ship passenger c 4th stage cancer.
