May 26, 2006  Vance County & Franklin County, North Carolina
$1.5 Million Dollars seized during DWI Checkpoint

Traffic safety and DWI checkpoint Friday night resulted in the largest cash seizure ever by law enforcement officers in Vance County.

Henderson Police Chief Glen Allen said Saturday that officers from the Henderson Police Department's Highway Traffic Safety Unit and the Vance County Sheriff's Office's Proactive Criminal Enforcement (PACE) Unit stopped a late model pickup truck at about 10 p.m. Friday night near the border of Vance and Franklin counties. The pickup was registered in North Carolina and was heading south.

Allen said officers searched the pickup upon discovering that the driver (whose name is not yet being released) did not have a license. The search revealed that the vehicle was transporting large amounts of cash money; Allen said initial estimates suggest that $1.55 million cash was found in the vehicle; much of the cash was in $100, $20 or $1 bills.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents were contacted once the money was discovered; DEA agents authorized seizure of the cash and the truck. Allen said joint investigations between local agencies and DEA are ongoing and some of the money may be returned to local departments in the form of federal drug seizure funds, although Allen said he doesn't know if any actual drugs were found in the pickup. Allen has not officially announced that the money is actually drug money.

"A good percentage of seizures and returns to state and local departments supplement law enforcement efforts,"Allen said." The DEA will determine how much of the federal equitably shared funds are returned to each agency based upon their respective involvement in the case."

Both occupants of the vehicle were taken into custody and Allen said they have Henderson connections.

Source: Jason Alston
Daily Dispatch