
‘We want cash’ Drug agents seize $209mn in random profiling of 5,200 travelers - compil3r
http://www.mo4ch.com/we-want-cash-drug-agents-seize-209mn-in-random-profiling-of-5200-travelers-report/
======
tomhoward
Previous discussion here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12268122](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12268122)

------
gotthemwmds
It's long been known by people who play the drug game that the authorities
only care about lining their own pockets.

This is an anecdotal story, but could be "New Yorker level" vetted if someone
tried.

About 20 years ago my friend John was living in Salt Lake City, Utah -- where
he grew up -- and had rented a house in CA for the sole purpose of growing pot
in. He spent almost 5 years bringing about 50-100lbs of high potency pot into
Utah in his Prius 2-3 times per month, making countless trips back and forth,
before his first contact with the authorities.

They pulled him over about a block away from his house and told him they had
been watching him and knew what he had in the car -- about 50lbs of pot in
duffel bags. He was arrested and charged with... wait for it... failing to pay
taxes on the marijuana. He was out of jail within 6 hours.

His lawyer told him he had three choices: pay the taxes, to the tune of about
$350k, or fight it, or plead guilty. He wrote a check for $350k and never
heard from the authorities again. He continued to do this for another 10 years
and was never bothered again. Strictly pot.

You may wonder how he was able to write that check without raising eyebrows. A
few of his clients were business owners who had him on the payroll (taxes and
all) to pay for their regular supply of pot. Plus he was "an independent
artist" and filed 1099-Ts every quarter via his accountant. Through these
methods he made plenty of money on paper, and obviously lived very cheaply (in
an apartment). He has still never had a real job and retired at 35, with no
record what so ever.

~~~
foobarcrunch
American police currently behave as a paramilitary, occupying mafia just
slightly less terrible than anarchy.

~~~
gotthemwmds
I hope no one is wondering why the DEA made the unconscionable act of not re-
classifying marijuana as a Schedule II drug.

There are so many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people whose livelihood is
tried up in arresting people for drug crimes that shouldn't be illegal in the
first place. Think about all those DEA agents making $100k a year plus their
pensions, all those judges and public defenders, all those private prisons
full of people doing possession charges. All those local cops employed to keep
an eye on them during probation.

It's absolutely disgusting and ruins peoples' lives on a daily basis, but
totally expected behavior in a society that only cares about money (aka
capitalism).

I am sort of surprised there isn't a lot more backlash against the DEA for
this horrible move last week, but then again, the pro-pot legalization
movement isn't all that impressive either. The most annoying thing about
marijuana is fucking idiot stoners representing the brand.

edit: and don't even get me started on the huge amount of needless deaths in
northern Mexico directly caused by the War on Drugs. Go read 2666 if you want
a sliver of an idea of how bad it is there. But hey, to the average American,
they are brown people so they don't care. Disgusting.

~~~
saiya-jin
> The most annoying thing about marijuana is fucking idiot stoners
> representing the brand.

this so much - most people associate pot with braindead pathetic existences in
the fringe of society, who are the loudest of the crowd. i've met senior
software engineers, doctors, managers of all levels and so on doing it
recreationally, for decades and having a normal life. those using alcohol for
similar relaxing effect after hard day ended up in worse state, and it costed
them much, much more in long term

------
douche
There's virtually no chance, with this much shady money getting confiscated,
that some fraction isn't getting skimmed off the top into the pockets of the
individual, relatively lowly paid, officers. It's inevitable, even if you had
the most incorruptible individuals imaginable, the temptation is too great.

------
jamestnz
"Civil forfeiture" they call this, where the local Police Department
essentially steals your stuff, and the burden is on you to prove why you
should get it back. Of course you'd assume the local PD couldn't possibly be
allowed to keep it themselves, surely it is remitted into some state or
federal government fund.

Well, enter the "Equitable Sharing" program, which was halted/curtailed in
2015 when there was a furore about it, but has apparently resumed[1]. This is
where the actual local PD that seized your money really does get to keep 80%
of it themselves, with only 20% going to the feds.

But for some reason the locals aren't allowed to spend this money on op-ex
(salaries etc) so they often spend it on crazy equipment which they can obtain
via the Department of Defense's 1033 Program[2][3] which allows PDs to buy
excess military equipment like weaponized vehicles, armored personnel
carriers, grenade launchers, and helicopters -- obviously contributing to the
increasing militarization of police[4].

Conflict of interest much? More confiscation of citizen funds == more toys for
the boys at the PD.

All funded by money and assets seized from citizens on highly questionable
grounds, with no real semblance of due process. Not great.

[1]
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/28/the-f...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/28/the-
feds-have-resumed-a-controversial-program-that-lets-cops-take-stuff-and-keep-
it/)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1033_program](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1033_program)

[3] [http://www.businessinsider.com.au/aclu-report-on-police-
mili...](http://www.businessinsider.com.au/aclu-report-on-police-
militarization-2014-8)

[4]
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/10/11/as...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/10/11/asset-
seizures-fuel-police-spending/)

------
nomercy400
And people say China is corrupt...

------
dragonbonheur
The United States has fast become the land where a wall informed individual
should never set foot, if he/she values his/her belongings, freedom and life.

~~~
jdimov10
I lived in the US for 5 years - I went there as an exchange student when I was
17, finished high school then went to university. One day, just before
completing my CS & Math degree, I was arrested, imprisoned and (after 3 months
of being bounced around various detention facilities in 3 different states,
without any explanation) I was deported for violating my student visa (because
I had to work to pay tuition).

Have not set foot there since 2012 and don't intend to, even though my wife
really wants to visit NYC. Frankly, right now I feel I would be safer visiting
North Korea or Syria or Yemen, than the US. I'm absolutely terrified by just
about anything that has to do with the USofA.

I have also come to distrust Americans more than any other group of people.

[For context, I'm a white, middle-class entrepreneur / software engineer,
originally from east Europe, now living in the UK]

~~~
dragonbonheur
Please, Please, please, pretty please-with-extra-sugar-and-rainbow-sprinkles-
and-chocolate-chips on top, do not visit North Korea, Yemen, Syria or even
Dubai or Abu Dhabi either.

~~~
jdimov10
Already been to Dubai and Abu Dhabi multiple times, for both pleasure and
business. Have taken my family a few times too. We love it there (although I
am not at all oblivious to the way they treat Asian workers).

And for Yemen - I have been dying to visit Sana'a, such a deeply beautiful
place. And I'm devastated that this seems like an impossible dream now, after
the US/Saudi invasion.

------
benmmurphy
and contrast what happened to the secretary that took ~$800,000 worth of
information from their company ([http://www.thewire.com/national/2014/08/the-
dea-paid-an-amtr...](http://www.thewire.com/national/2014/08/the-dea-paid-an-
amtrak-secretary-854460-for-free-passenger-lists/375895/)) with what happened
to Sergey Aleynikov
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Aleynikov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Aleynikov))

------
bertil
A young gentleman whose name escapes me had develop an app to fight parking
tickets (in NY, SF & the UK), and more recently work on housing assistance (in
the UK). His work is often dubbed “robo-lawyer”.

Given the scale, would it make sense to have a similar work done for civil
forfeiture?

------
TamDenholm
John Oliver did a story on something very similar:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks)

------
foobarcrunch
[https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal-law-reform/reforming-
po...](https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal-law-reform/reforming-police-
practices/asset-forfeiture-abuse)

------
codingmyway
What you'd expect from the US Government / the world's most powerful
protection racket

------
lostlogin
This is alarming and a massive overstep. However why would anyone ever travel
with sums like that on them? I don't get it at all. I know that the US is a
society that uses cash a lot more than mine, but carry sums like that seems
utterly crazy.

~~~
ghshephard
Because you don't want to be at the mercy of a bank? When your money sits in a
bank account, anybody who wants to take it, or seize it, simply has to contact
the bank with appropriate legal authority, and _poof_ \- your money is gone,
with no recourse whatsoever. At least when you have the physical cash, they
have to deal with you personally.

Of course, as we see here, that's becoming more common.

~~~
lostlogin
Maybe banks are less easy to trust where you are. I have concerns about what
happens with my records, but no concerns over my money going away. All banks
in New Zealand have a pretty good health rating.

~~~
ghshephard
People feel that way about their banks until the first time money is taken out
of their account without their permission. Certainly very possible in the
United States.

------
gambiting
This "land of the free" sounds very much like Russia to me. In fact, I would
rather live in Russia to be honest.

