Washington, June 13 (ANI): A woman, who is believed to be from the Windsor area, has been arrested in Michigan for allegedly trying to smuggle tens of thousands of dollars across the border by padding her bra with cash.
Moura El-Asmar was detained on the American side of the Windsor-Detroit tunnel on Sunday after she and her 16-year-old daughter, Jacinta, were patted down during secondary inspection, Windsorstar.com reported.
The duo, who had a travel itinerary showing that they were catching a flight to Lebanon later that day to visit relatives, was found to have 59,000 dollars cash sewn into the linings of their bras.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court, El-Asma told border officers that she was carrying 3,300 dollars, but when her wallet was searched in secondary inspection, more than 15,000 dollars were found.
The total amount was nearly 73,000 dollars.
She was searched and was found to have four bags sewn into her bra. Which contained 10,000 dollars each and the fourth had 9,000 dollars.
However, the daughter was searched and was found to be carrying 20,000 dollars in two bags sewn into her bra.
According to the court document, the 51-year-old admitted to officers that she had sewn the money into the bras, while her daughter said that her mother had asked her to wear the cash-laden bra, but she had no idea how much money was in it.
El-Asmar allegedly told the border officers that she didn't want to declare the money because she didn't want her driver - her boyfriend Michel Barnaba - to know that she had so much money.
Border officers said that after they ran a criminal background check on El-Asmar, they found that she has been convicted in Canada twice for theft under 1,000 dollars, in 1992 and 1993.
She is charged with four offences related to her border stop on Sunday.
The daughter was released, but Moura El Asmar is in the custody of U.S. Marshals at an undisclosed detention facility. (ANI)
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