A Brampton resident has pled guilty this fall for failing to declare more than $227,000 in American currency while crossing the border from the United States via Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Fifty-six-year-old Chandrakant Patel was in court on Sept. 9 and pled guilty to the charge of failing to declare currency greater than $10,000 when entering Canada from the U.S. last October, states a release from Niagara Regional Police.
Police say two travellers, when speaking to officers with the Canada Border Services Agency at the Queenston Bridge port of entry, declared they did not have more than $10,000 cash with them — a second examination found $227,453 hidden in the vehicle, valued to be more than $312,200 in Canadian currency.
Border services officers seized these travellers’ cash and detained them for suspicion of smuggling under the Customs Act. Police say the RCMP’s Niagara-on-the-Lake Border Integrity Unit found, through a criminal investigation, that the cash belonged to the passenger of the car.
“This seizure and investigation demonstrates the consequences for smugglers, and those perpetuating the cycle of organized crime,” said Christine Burocher, border services’ regional director general for southern Ontario, in the release.
Under Section 12(1) of the Canadian government’s Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, it is illegal to fail to declare currency greater than $10,000 when entering the country.