Detroit Metro among airports DEA targets for cash grabs from travelers

Two years ago, Christelle Tillerson bought a one-way ticket to fly from Detroit Metro Airport to Los Angeles where she planned to purchase a semi-tractor truck using cash withdrawn from her boyfriend’s retirement savings.

When the Detroit woman arrived at the airport in Romulus on March 12, 2014, she was met by federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents who asked if they could search her bags. She explained she had “about $20,000” in her checked luggage and gave them permission to search it.

Tillerson didn’t know it, but she had targeted by the DEA after the agency “received information” that she was headed to Los Angeles on a one-way ticket.

Like hundreds of other travelers profiled and stopped by DEA agents at airports and train stations each year, Tillerson was about to have her money taken away from her by the government under the suspicion it was tied to drug trafficking.

Even though she was never criminally charged, Tillerson would have to sue the government if she wanted the $25,000 back that the agents found in her luggage.


more:
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/08/12/detroit-metro-among-airports-dea-targets-cash-grabs-travelers/88560606/