A suitcase stuffed with cash didn't get far at the Gordie Howe International Bridge. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say a K-9 search of a vehicle on Nov. 5 turned up roughly $180,000 in undeclared cash.
Dog Sniffs Out the Stash
According to The Detroit News, officials said the K-9 search yielded cash, described as being of questionable origin. The traveler was identified as a U.S. citizen who refused to disclose the nature or source of the money, which was then seized, according to CBP Director of Field Operations Marty C. Raybon. Raybon said Homeland Security Investigations Detroit officials continued investigating the incident, though no other details have been released.
Canadian outlets covering the same seizure offered a slightly different figure. Windsor Star reported that officers seized an estimated $180,000 in cash from a U.S. traveler at the bridge, describing a canine search of a vehicle that turned up cash. A search-result snippet tied to that same Windsor Star report instead cited an estimated $185,000, leaving the exact total unresolved between the two figures. CTV News separately confirmed that a K-9 detector dog's search on Nov. 5 at the bridge turned up a suitcase full of money, reporting the amount as $180,000 in U.S. cash.
Bridge Traffic Still Climbing
The seizure comes as the Gordie Howe bridge, which opened to cars and trucks on July 27 and added a multi-use path for bikers and hikers the following week, continues ramping up traffic between Windsor and Detroit. The $4.54 billion span stretches 1.5 miles and recorded roughly 316,000 trips in September, putting it second to the Ambassador Bridge's 318,000 vehicle crossings that same month. The month before, according to CBC News, the Gordie Howe bridge logged 343,507 crossings in August, its first full month of operation, nearly matching the Ambassador Bridge's 345,445 crossings that month. Nearly 270,000 of the Gordie Howe bridge's August crossings were passenger vehicles compared with roughly 74,000 trucks, and Statistics Canada figures cited by CBC put commercial truck entries that month at 34,800.
Other Recent Seizures Nearby
The cash find is not the only contraband case reported at the new crossing in recent weeks. AM800 reported that on Oct. 27, U.S. customs officers seized a gun and marijuana from a Canada-bound commercial truck driver at the Gordie Howe bridge. That driver, a U.S. citizen, was arrested after officers discovered the firearm and marijuana and was later turned over to the Detroit Police Department; no other details about that incident were released.
Canadian border authorities also reported a string of firearms seizures around the same stretch of time. The same AM800 report said CBSA seizures at the Gordie Howe bridge, Ambassador Bridge and Windsor-Detroit Tunnel took place between Oct. 18 and Nov. 1, with a 35-year-old man from Columbus, Ohio, arrested and charged with firearms-related offenses following a seizure at the Gordie Howe bridge on Oct. 21. Other travelers involved in those seizures paid fines ranging from $1,000 to $7,000, the outlet reported. The available evidence does not establish any connection between those firearms cases and the Nov. 5 cash seizure.
