$50 million drug-money seizure may be biggest score ever

POSTED: 2:20 a.m. EST, January 18, 2007



WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Colombian national police recovered close to $50 million in U.S. currency as well as other money during three raids in the past week on houses used to stash drug proceeds, a U.S. official told CNN.
It is thought to be the most money ever seized by a law enforcement agency in the world, said the official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the investigation.
The raids were conducted following a tip from a source working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the official told CNN. The DEA then provided information to the Colombian National Police.
The first of the raids -- all of which were conducted in the Cali area -- took place Friday, and $13 million and more than €2 million was seized. The cash was in a false cabinet and wall that led to a hidden room. Another cash seizure took place Tuesday, when police recovered $16 million to $18 million.
Separately, another house was searched on Wednesday and a large quantity of gold was found. Officials said a wall had to be destroyed to get to the gold.
DEA agents accompanied Colombian police on the raids, the DEA official said.
The money and gold likely belonged to a member of the Norte Valle Cartel, which dominates the cocaine trade in Colombia, the official told CNN.

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I have heard that most US currency larger than $10 bills has traces of cocaine on it, this news does nothing to dispel that notion.

The demand for the drug from the USA fuels this sort of thing, any Colombian, Peruvian or Bolivian will tell you that

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