amaikama:

That the price you pay living in a so called "land of freedom and opportunity"

More like the price you pay for not following simple Rules!
JuJu dont work on everyone in case you havent noticed

Dis Guy:

More like the price you pay for not following simple Rules!
JuJu don't work on everyone in case you havent noticed

juju ke?

y u dey threaten us now?

Wow! Whatever was she thinking? That she was going to Switzerland?

It is interesting to read the responses on this issue, especially those hinting on the fact that race had something to do with it.

People, lets not beat each other up on this. Whether black or white, whether immigrant or citizen, the simple fact is that this woman broke the law, and breaking the law has consequences. Its that simple. And mind you, she broke the law in two countries. She broke the law in Nigeria - where you are supposed to declare funds in excess of US 5K and she broke the law upon arriving in the US. Funny that we are not even discussing that Nigeria's laws were broken as well. We Nigerians are too comfortable with illegality. Even when we see that something illegal has taken place, we begin too rationalise, "sebi its her money" , "nurses make a lot of money" "$92,000 is no biggie" bla bla bla . We have to begin to have respect for the law. There is a reason those laws are in place. There is a reason that governments want to know when you are bringing or taking out huge sums of money. It if is not controlled, it has effects on the economy. I feel sorry for this woman, but there is no doubt in my mind she knew what she was doing. Everyone who lives in the US knows the whole deal about taking out more than $10K. When you are about to leave the country, you are sometimes asked. When you are coming into the country, it is written clearly on the form. And this wome has lived in the US for how long ?

Another thing you have to consider is the direction in which the funds were coming. She was not taking the money OUT of the US, she was bringing it in. For all those who are talking about nurses making a lot of money, that might be true, but how do you explain the direction the money was going ? So what did she do ? Get paid her salary, invested it in Nigeria and then bringing it back in ? Hmm , And those who say she put in a lot of overtime etc etc , in that case, would it not be very easy for her to prove the source of the funds ? If she used all of her salary to build a house in Nigeria, and then sold the house and decided to repatriate the funds, would that not be very easy to prove ? Would she not have gone to trial to prove that ? If the funds were really her hard earned sweat, would she not FIGHT for it ?




@Spoilt ,
It is really interesting that you put the racial spin on this. If this happened to you, would you think it was because you are black ? Or because you did something wrong ? You also state that

she wasnt carrying contraband or an illegal substance. she was carrying what i believe was hard earned cash.

Do you have any proof of this statement ? or this is just your opinion ?

nigerian nurses especially put in overtime and live in the hospitals to make good cash. whether she was taking it out of the country or into it doesnt matter.

But you see, it does matter. That is why every country in the world wants to know when you are bringing in or taking out huge funds. If it didn't matter, they wouldn't want to know. I don't have the time to go into the ecomonics of it for you, but rest assured that it matters.

And another thing, i don't care what you do, $92,000 IS A LOT OF MONEY !!!!

MSY:


@Spoilt ,
It is really interesting that you put the racial spin on this. If this happened to you, would you think it was because you are black ? Or because you did something wrong ? You also state that Do you have any proof of this statement ? or this is just your opinion ?
But you see, it does matter. That is why every country in the world wants to know when you are bringing in or taking out huge funds. If it didn't matter, they wouldn't want to know. I don't have the time to go into the ecomonics of it for you, but rest assured that it matters.

And another thing, i don't care what you do, $92,000 IS A LOT OF MONEY !!!!

i didnt emphasize race dearie. i emphasized the fact she's an immigrant some posters misinterpreted that to mean black. im not kidding you about the punishment she received. if she had been an american citizen her punishment would have been different. we dont have to agree on that you know.

@Spoilt

On two different posts, you mentioned race, see below

i just think that failing to declare it doesnt mean they can take her life savings. if it was a white woman [/b]who didnt declare it, they would never confisticate the money. its because she's an imigrant. they are always biased!

And again you said

i know she broke the law by not declaring but lets be real. [b]if this was a white american we wouldnt be having this discussion because that money would not have been confisticated.

Or did i misunderstand ? You weren't talking about race above ?

And you say with such confidence that if this were an american citizen the punishment would have been different , on what do you base this ?

And yes, we don't have to agree. Especially when your argument is not based on facts, but emotion !

Could it be that this woman was a victim of her greed ??

@msy
i see i did mention white american. my bad. i really didnt mean color wise. i thought my emphasis was on the immigrant part. 
i should have said "born american" or real american or something. i was trying to refer to a real american citizen not a naturalized one.  because we know that anyone can carry an american passport but from your name and place of birth on the passport they can tell who the naturalized immigrants are.
it seems to bother them that she has been a resident since 1989 and hadnt bothered to naturalize. if she had naturalized and was an american would she have been given a lighter punishment? would it have mattered?

but that said , it still would not be far fetched for anyone putting the racial spin on this. i travel frequently and those immigration officers are racist. racist and subtle. ive often been asked to step aside (very very politely of course) and checked more thoroughly than other passengers. ive been questioned while others are let through without a second glance.and ive lived here for years!!!!!!! was it because i'm black? born nigerian? and i wasn't  even carrying $92,000!!    .  has this whole thing been blown way out of proportion? maybe.

if she has to forfeit the money, tough luck. she should have made use of modern technology to transfer it.

Well if your country and mine didn't have a reputation we wouldn't suffer such embarassment,the reason why people like this woman does not deserve you belittling her crime.

I wonder why[b] everytime [/b] a black person is stopped at the airport they immediately assume that they were stopped just because they are black.

@spoilt,

You seem to buy this woman's story of profit from real estate?Lets exermine this scene.This woman came to Nigeria to sell her house,bank shares,etc and she made all that money but wait nobody paid her through the bank,they all paid by Ghana Must Go bags,11.8m Naira,she goes to the local Ahhaji to change it into dollars abi? and also forgot to declare it after all the good food she was served on the plane;no be so?

@mrmayor

where she got the money from is her business not mine. her offence was not declaring it. ( so they said)

like i said before ive been stopped several times at airports and i was never given a real reason why i was stopped. it was always "a routine check". i always demand to know why i am being stopped and checked and re checked and questioned as if they got word i was coming . the reason is always we are just doing our jobs ma'am. yeah right!

@ spoilt

while i concur that sometimes racism plays a part with immigration officials it is not wholly true that everytime you are stopped and searched it is because you are black.

I am not even a citizen but i have never had issues with immigration officials. I remember the first time i arrived at JFK, while on the long queue to check our luggage one of the custom officials suddenly beckoned at me, of course i automatically assumed it must be because i was black and he was going to start some humiliating search. Surprisingly he just glanced at my passport (Naija pali by the way), told me to take my luggage and wished me well.
Need i say the fellow was white.

This woman has broken the law. When Dariye and Alams were arrested for the same offence we all hailed the British officials for a job well done. It will be hypocrisy to start crying loudly merely for sympathetic reasons.

If you are a Nigerian and traveling from or to the U.S. your chance of being picked out for search is %95 out of %100. That %5 happens to be Nigerians that lied and claimed that they are not going or coming from Nigeria.

The pilot have not seen you, but he knows you are a Nigerian and the seat number that you are in. That’s not called random check. It’s called discrimination [traveling while Nigerian].

@davidylan
like i said before this whole issue i really dont believe was race related. i think it was immigrant related. the race angle was just by the way . i already explained that in my previous posts so i wont bother rehashing the details.

just curious why did he beckon you from the line to glance at your passport? did he do that to everyone?

@ spoilt
I think the issue had more to do with the fact that:

- the woman was coming INTO the US with a large sum of money. If it was her salary why would she send it to Nigeria and then choose to bring it back in cash?
- When even Nigerian government officials like Alams, Dariye and Andy Uba (on Obasanjo's entourage) have been known to launder huge sums of money you should expect closer scrutiny as soon as you mention the name Nigeria.
- She's been here almost 20yrs, she should have known the rules.

I wouldnt know why the fellow beckoned to me and no he didnt do that to all others as far as i can remember.

@davidylan

does the direction she was carrying it in matter so much? everyone already assumes guilt because she was heading out of nigeria instead of into it. i guess we are used to people taking funds home. anyway im sure if she had been carrying this money into naija it would have caused even more furore than it already is. (as per immigrants taking all the jobs and repartrating all the funds home!) they hate that! well i guess she has learnt her lesson.

I wouldnt know why the fellow beckoned to me and no he didnt do that to all others as far as i can remember.

my point exactly. you will be picked out for closer scrutiny for no reason, its always subtle and very politely done.

spoilt, what would be the criteria you use for stopping people if you work at the Airport?

spoilt:

@davidylan

does the direction she was carrying it in matter so much? everyone already assumes guilt because she was heading out of nigeria instead of into it. i guess we are used to people taking funds home. anyway im sure if she had been carrying this money into naija it would have caused even more furore than it already is. (as per immigrants taking all the jobs and repartrating all the funds home!) they hate that! well i guess she has learnt her lesson.

The direction is the most important issue in this case.
- she'd been working in the US for at least 18yrs so whatever money she was carrying if it legally belonged to her was made in the US and not Nigeria. Here comes the critical question; why did she repatriate her (assuming she made it legally) money to Nigeria only to return it in cash?
This is the crux of the matter, unfortunately the US authorities are already assuming the woman is guilty by association (i.e. for being Nigerian). But can you blame them? Our leaders have proven that Nigerians cannot be trusted to obey the law even those on the entourage of the president so what do we expect?

spoilt:

my point exactly. you will be picked out for closer scrutiny for no reason, its always subtle and very politely done.

If you were in their shoes you would do exactly the same thing.

Dis Guy:

spoilt, what would be the criteria you use for stopping people if you work at the Airport?

people who look suspicious of course!
and that definitely doesnt mean a certain race or nationality just so you know!

well you are bound to pick an arab, a nigerian, a white person so anyone can say the same thing as you are saying.
someone looking around like a JJC might be considered suspicious
someone with a long beard
someone who is going through a divorce too!

and you will definately do it in a very polite manner, that's the job Ma'am

Well it's unfortunate.

But having lived in US for that long, she should have known what the law says concerning such things, especially now that the US govt is cracking down on money laundering as part of the law against terrorism.

Nigerians are a hated group in the Western world. If she was an American citizen, I am sure the sentence would have been less.

Just a lesson for us Naija guys. We are a hated breed.

Personally I can't see myself putting such money in the American economy. I would have put that money in the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

enolase:

Nigerians are a hated group in the Western world. If she was an American citizen, I am sure the sentence would have been less.

Just a lesson for us Naija guys. We are a hated breed.

It is sad that we have degenerated to the extent of playing the victims card to rationalise illegality. Since when did it become a sign of being a "hated breed" to pay for crime? Perhaps it is true that Nigerians deserve the leaders they get, men who dont respect the law!

@Topic

There are rules, and she broke the rules, the punishment fits the crime. She was " Money Laundering" and it is against the law. She should have declared the money upon entry, she did not and she rightfully should lose the money. The Russians used to bring in dirty money years ago thru NYC and the government passed laws that applied to every person entering the country.

She should have been arrested, whether she is a visitor, permanent resident or citizen. Why in the world would she be carrying all that cash when she can wire the money and get it in 24Hrs. Did she explain how she got all that money? She knows better, since 911 the ICE has stepped up their game.

I agree with most people on the forum. This is definitely an issue of MONEY LAUNDERING or TAX EVASION.

1. If the source of the money was "clean" then she was clearly evading tax by not using bank transfer or declaring it. That being the case, all she needed to do was to prove the source was legitimate, and I'm sure she would have received a more lenient penalty, like a fine.

2. If the source was "dodgy" then it's clearly a case of money laundering - an even worse crime!!

Either way, she is clearly GREEDY and deserves to be punished! If you do the CRIME, you do the TIME!!

People like her need to stop giving [law-abiding] Nigerians a bad name!

For all the talk about guilt by association, and immigrant status and all that , let us not loose sight of the most important point in this case , This woman lied about the funds she was carrying. Saying NO on the form that she had no funds in excess of 10K, she put herself in a very bad situation.
We are talking about this only because this time, someone was caught. You can imagine how many people have passed through without being stopped.

@Spoilt
I myself travel out of the US very often, at least twice or three times a month , and till date, i have never been stopped by any immigration officer for "special" treatment. And yes, i carry a Nigerian passport.

@ topic

$95,000 is not a lot of money, as a nurse she could have easily saved that over a period of ten years at the rate of $9,500 per annum.

Had a friend once who used to moan about being tired of living in the UK. He was living in a rented accommodation and had no dependant.

After doing an expenditure plan for him, from his income of £1000pcm, and outgoing consisting of rent £250; food £100; travel £50; bills £50; social/smoking £150; I told him if he saved the remaining balance of £400 every month, he would have £5000 in his account by the end of the year and £20,000 after 4 years.  

The US always try to entice British nurses over to the states every year and the salary packages is always around $60,000 with free accommodation thrown in, so there is nothing obscene for a nurse in America to be in possesion of that amount.  

Someone cited the case of Wayne Rooney's girlfriend's VAT issue, FYI, it was IMPORT DUTY she failed to pay, and was caught trying to leave the airport via the "nothing to declare" exit, like our Nigerian lady. Why wasn't she told to forfeit her possesion or put on probation too, cause she is a celibrity no doubt. All she was told to do was pay the duty she was trying to evade.

As for the 95 odd % of contributors to this forum who are lambasting the poor woman for not declaring this on the landing card/customs form, how many of you go through the "nothing to declare" exit? How many people manage to fill the forms correctly? It is not even as if she would have had to pay import duty for carrying cash, so why can't people accept that it could have been an oversight. .

Y'all just seem to be blinded by the fact that, that could have been her hard earned money, but instead choose to jump to the wrong conclusion that she was probably laundering money for some government.

And as for saying she's educated and should have known better, what if she was one of those adult returners - people who return to study in old age aka matured students - how many graduates of Nigerian University are actually of "graduate calibre" despite spending years in University?[/b]

big_bumper:

@ topic

$95,000 is not a lot of money, as a nurse she could have easily saved that over a period of ten years at the rate of $9,500 per annum.

Had a friend once who used to moan about being tired of living in the UK. He was living in a rented accommodation and had no dependant.

After doing an expenditure plan for him, from his income of £1000pcm, and outgoing consisting of rent £250; food £100; travel £50; bills £50; social/smoking £150; I told him if he saved the remaining balance of £400 every month, he would have £5000 in his account by the end of the year and £20,000 after 4 years. 

The US always try to entice British nurses over to the states every year and the salary packages is always around $60,000 with free accommodation thrown in, so there is nothing obscene for a nurse in America to be in possesion of that amount.     

puhleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
How many Americans can bring out $5,000 from a savings?
say what you know,anything can be calculated theoretically.
The money was coming from naija,abeg read the contributions prior to posting!!
$60,000 at a 27% taxrate,calculate that!.
Anyone on that income that can save 9,500 a year must have leaves as kids,live on a shoe box ,drive leggs- us and drink water for breakfast lunch and dinner.
I have lived in the US for over a decade and never heard of anyone getting free accomodation with any offers,not even CEO's talk less of common nurses.
abeg

FYI it was Import Duty!  Import duty is paid at the rate of VAT and that 21% for the UK.If I'm wrong please explain the difference between Import Duty and VAT.She had too many clothes which exceeded the £500 limited she was allowed without paying tax,if she couldn't pay on the spot the clothes would have been confiscated atleastWayne Rooney's girlfriend was stopped,how many Nigerian thick madam bring in tons of clothes without paying tax or vat to Nigeria.

I still don't get why Nigerians especially those in the west love defending the indefensible,the woman broke the law period!How did she manage to carry that amount of money from Nigeria,she was paid that amount of money in a Ghana Must Go Bag and she changed it in the local Alhaji abi no be so?

If they woman was Asian Muslim everyone would accusing her of funding terrorism|_

She could have save what,sh-it brains read the original post.A Nigerian Nurse lost $92,000 she was bringing in from Nigeria. The money moved from NIGERIA TO AMERICA.

big_bumper:

As for the 95 odd % of contributors to this forum who are lambasting the poor woman for not declaring this on the landing card/customs form, how many of you go through the "nothing to declare" exit? How many people manage to fill the forms correctly? It is not even as if she would have had to pay import duty for carrying cash, so why can't people accept that it could have been an oversight. .

kai, no wonder Nigeria will never improve. We've successfully bred a generation that accepts illegality and criminal offences as mere "oversights". I wont blame our leaders for corruption, we should just accept that diverting millions into ur private account might just have been an oversight too.

how old was the woman in question? nobody here can make a good judgement without seen the general picture.
so we must let the law take effect.money laundering or innocent nurse with all that blah blah is mere jumping into conclution.

its a pity some people cant read b/w the lines.THE WOMAN WAS CAUGHT WITH 11.8MILLION NAIRA,NAIRA NOT DOLLARS.

i dont know why most nigerians like moving around with raw cash.i have seen ojo alaba boys travelling with over u$150.000 cash to china.