Here's how to make your car an instant collectible. Unfortunately, you will be too. Of course the real question is what KIND of BMW? It's hard to believe it was a blinged-out red Z8, with gold wire wheels, or a ratty tan '71 2002 with an exploded interior. My money's on a clean three year-old 5 Series, in gray metallic, and without blacked-out windows...
Anyway, last weekend Federal officers in Nogales found more than $500,000 in undeclared U.S. currency hidden in a BMW that an Arizona man was trying to drive into Mexico.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers conducting outbound inspections at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry selected the 58-year-old Phoenix man for additional review.
They subsequently put his car on a vehicle lift and discovered a non-factory compartment (don't you love that term?) containing 21 packages of undeclared U.S. currency.
The funds were processed for seizure and the man was arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI). ––Paul Duchene
