As I  hear that this is happening more and more, I thought that it might be worthwhile to warn some of my readers who fly through Houston to get to Panama. It seems that this has now become standard operating procedure at the airport there.  This in from a  friend who told me of his ordeal a few weeks back.

“Don’t even think about bringing your cash with you.”

Good morning Tom,

I love your newsletter and look forward to every one. I have a ranch down in the Azuero about ten kilometers South of Torio. The reason I’m writing you is to tell you about an experience I had 2 weeks ago on my way to Panama. I was in the Houston airport and we were boarding the plane to Panama City. My ticket had been scanned at the gate and I was walking down the Jetway to board when I see these two Customs agents in uniform. They were asking each person how much money they were taking out of the country and what it was going to be used for. They asked them if they had over ten thousand dollars and everyone in front of me said no, but then they asked them well how much you have and if it was ok to verify that by looking through their carry on. As far as I could tell they didn’t actually go through anyone’s items until they got to me.

They asked me if I had ten thousand dollars or more and I said no. Then they asked me how much I did have and I said 6,500.00 and they said are you sure? I said it could be like 6,700.00 or so, but that’s within a hundred dollars. He took out a piece of paper and asked me to write down how much money  I thought I had and then asked me to sign it. He then asked me to come with him off the Jetway to a private area where we were met by another agent. They asked me about twenty questions and made me empty my pockets and the contents of my backpack. They counted all my money and then wrote down the amount, my name passport number, address etc. on a form and told me I could go. At this point the plane is waiting for me and I am the last one to board and everyone was looking at me like I was a criminal.

I’m pretty sure now I am on a list and considered a person of interest for future flights. This hardly seems legal as I was well under the limit of funds you are allowed to take. I thought you may want to pass this along to your readers as a heads up. I’ve been to Panama 15 times now and this is the first incident like this I have ever had, but something tells me it won’t be the last.