A hellish stash. Picture: Customs and Border Protection
A COUPLE travelling with millions of dollars worth of fake currency is in real trouble after customs agents found their stash.
Ceremonial “Hell Money” is never meant to be spent. The novelty cash is instead intended to be burned as a symbolic offering to the dead.
The counterfeit bills, popular in some Asian cultures, are even printed on a special joss paper reserved for items meant to be used for ceremonial fires.
However, the couple who arrived in the US from abroad discovered that the difference between fake bills printed on thin paper intended for use in religious rites and counterfeit bills trafficked by criminals can be a subtle distinction, NBC News reports.
The so-called “Hell Money” was found shortly after they arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a flight from Incheon International Airport. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents discovered 93 bundles of fake $US100 bills and 32 wrapped bundles of Vietnamese dong in the couple’s luggage.
All told, the newly arriving passengers were carrying nearly $US4.65 million ($6.45 million) in bogus currency with them.
Though this type of easily identified fake cash is widely used and even legal in many countries in southeast Asia, the US takes a much harder line on reproducing legal tender for any reason. “Attempting to import any amount of counterfeit currency, regardless of the intended purpose, can have serious implications for arriving travellers,” CBP Port Director Devin Chamberlain said.
Despite the fact that the couple, who had originally started their travels in Vietnam, had a perfectly innocent reason for the bricks of counterfeit cash in their luggage, the money was still seized by the US Secret Service.
The federal agency, perhaps best known for protecting US presidents, is also charged with investigating any cases involving the counterfeiting of currency — even if the currency is ceremonial “Hell Money.”
This story originally appeared on FlyerTalk.com.
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