largest bulk cash smuggling case ever in the eastern district of Michigan.

Eskender Mafarani of Richmond Hill, Ontario, appeared for a detention hearing Monday in federal court in Detroit in what border patrol agents are calling the largest bulk cash smuggling case ever in the eastern district of Michigan.Mafarani, 52, was crossing the Ambassador Bridge into the United States in a blue Volvo truck Friday when a border patrol officer asked him if he had anything to declare, according to a U.S. District Court affidavit. Mafarani said he had nothing to declare and was traveling with $700, the affidavit states.
However, border patrol officers used X-ray images to find hidden compartments in the truck. A patrol dog also alerted the officers to two different areas near the side walls of the truck, authorities said.Once they searched the truck, officers found more than $2 million in cash wrapped in 138 bundles in hidden compartments, along with six cell phones, a laptop computer and $1,220 in Canadian cash.It is illegal to conceal more than $10,000 when leaving or entering the United States.Mafarani is accused of smuggling and making a false statement to officers. He is being detained until a Nov. 18 preliminary examination.