Venezuela seizes some $3 mn on board vessel from U.S.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 9 December 2014, 22:27 by GxMedia

Caracas, Dec 9 (EFE).- Venezuelan authorities seized “at least $3 million” hidden in a vehicle being transported on a Lebanese-flagged vessel that arrived in the capital’s port from the United States, the state-run press reported Tuesday.

“The vehicle arrived in the country on Sunday, Dec. 7, on board a vessel from the United States, and it was detected at dock No. 26 of the Puerto La Cruz maritime terminal, the country’s most important,” the AVN news agency reported.

The Attorney General’s Office will bring to trial Arquimedes Jose Rondon, 49, “(the person) allegedly responsible for the truck in which authorities seized millions of dollars,” who was captured at Puerto La Cruz, in northeastern Anzoategui state, AVN said.

According to preliminary information released by the AG’s office, “due to the amount of the seized currency,” evidently low-denomination bills, prosecutors involved in the case still do not have an exact figure for how much cash was seized.

Venezuelan law prohibits bringing into the country sums greater than $10,000 in cash without declaring it.

Currency controls have been in place in Venezuela since 2003, putting a monopoly on foreign exchange operations in the hands of the state.

The government of Nicolas Maduro has implemented various control measures at different economic levels to attempt to suppress the illegal currency market