Man indicted for allegedly hiding $20K in luggage

A federal grand jury has indicted Delin Ma, a 52-year-old man who was arrested by federal agents at Francisco C. Ada International Airport after he was allegedly found concealing $20,000 cash in his hand-carried luggage while bound for Shanghai, China.

The indictment charged Ma with one count of bulk cash smuggling out of the United States.

The indictment also seeks to forfeit the $26,294 that was seized from Ma at the airport.

According to the indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the NMI on Thursday, Ma hid more than $10,000 in cash in an article of luggage on Feb. 13, 2015, with the intent to evade currency reporting requirements and transport the cash to a place outside of the United States.

At a preliminary hearing last month, U.S. District Court for the NMI Magistrate Judge Heather L. Kennedy found probable cause to warrant the filing of a criminal complaint against Ma.

Kennedy ruled that the U.S. government had met its burden in establishing probable cause to charge Ma with bulk cash smuggling.

The defendant posted a $10,000 secured bond for his temporary release.

Under the currency reporting laws, a person is required to report any amount of cash $10,000 and over when traveling out of or into the U.S.

According to Homeland Security Investigations special agent Michael D. Lansangan, Ma declared a little over $6,000 and a little over 1,000 Chinese RMB to him both verbally and in writing, by completing a Customs and Border Protection form.

Ma later allegedly admitted that the money was not his but belonged to a person named “Zheng Xiaolong” who owned “L&M Market.”

According to Lansangan, Ma stated that the $20,000 retrieved from his luggage was given to him by his boss, Shaorong Zeng, who operates the LN Market.

Ma stated that Zeng told him she had borrowed the money from a person in China named Maiying Xu and needed to pay back the loan.

Ma stated that Zeng told him the two envelopes contained a total of $20,000, and told him to deliver the money to Xu at her house in Putian, China.

Lansangan said Ma stated that because he was scared of losing Zeng’s money, or having it taken or stolen from him, he took the envelopes and hid them in his pants before packing them into his luggage.

Ma was supposed to board Sichuan Airlines flight 3U-8648 that was scheduled to depart Saipan last Feb. 13 for Shanghai.