Airport Interdiction Details
Officers in the narcotic division of local law enforcement agencies might be assigned to the Airport Interdiction Detail. These officers receive specialized training to handle narcotics and money laundering interdiction within public transportation facilities, including airports, train stations, and bus stations.
From this training, these officers attempt to identify behavioral characteristics shared among the ordinary traveler when compared to the characteristics of persons who are narcotics or money carriers.
For airport interdiction details, the investigations often begin with a secret tip from TSA that a traveler has a large amount of U.S. Currency in their carry-on bag or checked luggage. After receiving the tip, law enforcement officers obtain the suspect’s travel itinerary to look for suspicious activity, including:
- buying a one way flight;
- boarding the plane last;
- not having any checked luggage;
- having checked luggage with “filler” items such as sheets or towels instead of clothes, shoes, and underwear.
Law enforcement officers might gather background information on the suspect, including:
- other flights taken by the same suspect;
- the suspect’s criminal history; or
- a photograph of the suspect.
The law enforcement officers will go to the gate to detain the traveler as they approach the gate counter or enter the jetway to board the flight. After confronting the suspect, the officer might ask whether the traveler packed their own luggage and whether they are carrying any U.S. Currency. The officer might then ask for consent to search the carry-on or check luggage.
If law enforcement officers find cash, they might tell the traveler that he is not under arrest, but due to the large amount of U.S. currency in the bag and suspicious travel itinerary, the traveler must be escorted to the narcotics office for a verified count of the currency. The officers then conduct a thorough search of luggage and discuss the origin and purpose of the travelers having large amount of bundled U.S. currency.
The law enforcement officers then attempt to determine whether they have probable cause the U.S. Currency was involved in money laundering or drug trafficking. If so, they will seize the cash without a warrant and issue a receipt.
During the investigation, the officers might conduct an open-air sniff of the luggage and claim that the K9 makes a positive alert on the luggage.
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program
Some of these airport interdiction details are funded by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. HIDTA assists Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States.
The HIDTA grant program is administered by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and managed by executive boards composed of law enforcement leaders.
This article was last updated on Thursday, June 13, 2024.