A Syrian national has been charged after allegedly concealing more than $24,000 as she boarded a flight from Minneapolis to her homeland. Forty-nine-year-old Amneh Ahmad Abbas of New Orleans is accused of trying to evade currency reporting rules. A U.S. magistrate in Minneapolis Monday ordered her held without bond. Another hearing is scheduled for Thursday. According to the criminal complaint, Abbas was stopped on a jetway at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Friday as she was attempting to board a Northwest Airlines flight to Syria. Abbas told officers she was carrying nearly $10,000 plus 4,200 Syrian pounds. But they noticed a bulge under her clothes and found another $24,000. |