Department of Homeland Security officials say that Somali fraudsters have transported roughly $700 million in bulk cash through the Minneapolis airport to Somalia since 2024.
Officials also say that $136 million has been flown from Columbus, Ohio, to Somalia since 2023.
Meanwhile, large hub airports like John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas only see about three to four million dollars in cash being transported, according to Fox’s Kayleigh McEnany.
Under the network known as hawala, money is sent back without a paper trail to the third-world country of Somalia. But it’s reportedly estimated that only $215 million in remittances are sent each year by Somalis in the US, not the billion-plus dollars sent over the last three years.
Officials say this money could be siphoned or taxed by the terrorist group al-Shabaab, Fox News reports.
During a January 21 House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Ha Nguyen McNeill, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), testified that TSA agents report when the bulk cash is seen on the X-rays at airports and that there is an “ongoing investigation with our law enforcement partners.”