Bridge officers seize $20k in cash

PROGRESO — U.S. customs officers seized $20,000 from a pickup truck headed toward Mexico at the Progreso-Nuevo Progreso International Bridge on Sunday morning.

Officers found the cash hidden inside a roaster oven on the backseat of a 1998 Chevrolet Silverado, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The driver, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen from Mercedes, was not arrested.

The 18 packages of money were discovered during an X-ray scan of the vehicle, the news release states.

It is not illegal to carry more than $10,000, but it is a crime not to declare money totaling $10,000 or more upon entering or leaving the United States.

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Monitor staff writer Ana Ley compiled this report.