Customs Strikes Gold (and Cash) Smuggled on Jet : Refugees: Agents board ‘high-risk flight’ to cite 28 Vietnamese-Americans, seven from Orange County. More than $225,000 believed bound for relatives in Vietnam is seized.

More than two dozen Vietnamese-Americans, including seven from Orange County, who allegedly attempted to smuggle more than $250,000 in cash and gold out of the United States face stiff fines for violating Customs regulations, officials said Wednesday.

Customs agents seized the gold and cash Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport as 28 Vietnamese-Americans were about to board a Philippine Airlines jet bound for Manila. Investigators believe they were scheduled to take a connecting flight to Vietnam, said John Miller, public information officer for the Customs Service in Los Angeles.

Customs officials said the number of seizures of Vietnam-bound gold and cash has risen sharply in recent months and that Sunday’s operation was part of the agency’s policy of investigating “high-risk flights” in which large numbers of Vietnamese-Americans are booked on flights to Asia.

Officials estimate that at least $90 million in cash, gold and property is shipped to Vietnam annually--much of it in violation of strict federal laws that severely limit the amount of cash and goods that can be exported to the country.

In the last year, customs officials report, more than $600,000 in cash and gold has been seized on the West Coast alone. Much of the money was being shipped by refugees to their families in Vietnam, although there is a debate now raging in the Orange County Vietnamese community over how beneficial such aid is.

On Sunday, authorities discovered $220,000 in cash, $3,240 in gold coins and $2,280 in gold bars in the suitcases and bags of the 28 people.

Xuan Thi Nguyen, 34, of San Diego, was arrested at the airport and charged with making false statements to Customs officers and failure to report exported currency.

Nguyen was carrying $52,430 and $1,600 in gold bars, Miller said.

A breakdown of how much cash and gold the seven Orange County residents are accused of trying to smuggle was not available.

The other 27 suspects, who were not identified, were cited for various violations of Customs regulations and released. The seven from Orange County were each cited for exceeding the $100-per-family monthly limit Customs regulations placed on exporting cash to Vietnam.

A Customs fines officer will determine what punishment the accused violators receive, Miller said. Often, the officer orders that Customs keep the money and property seized, he said.

Customs officials are continuing to investigate whether the 28 people were working as a group and whether any of them is a professional money runner hired to make the trip to Vietnam.

Sunday’s Customs operation was one of a growing number of “periodic checks” the Customs Service makes on passengers it believes are headed to Vietnam, officials said.

“The Customs Service does investigate high-risk flights,” Miller said. “Usually, this is for drug money, but we also do it for export control . . . as in this case.”

Sending money to family member in Vietnam has been a common practice since the fall of Saigon in 1975. Last fall, the Customs Service held a town hall meeting in Orange County designed to explain Customs laws and regulations to the Vietnamese community, Miller said.

Nonetheless, for reasons Customs officials cannot explain, the number of seizures of Vietnam-bound cash has increased over the last four months--not just in Southern California but in San Francisco and San Jose as well.

“Everyone out here is trying to help family that’s still over there,” said Marcus Frank, a Westminster police detective who specializes in Vietnamese affairs. “This is a widespread practice.”

Many Vietnamese-Americans who cannot make the trip themselves rely on professional money runners to get cash and gold to family members, Frank said.

However, there is a growing controversy within the Vietnamese community over whether the aid is only serving to prop up the Communist regime in Vietnam.

Frank estimated that the Vietnamese government takes up to a 30% cut in cash that enters the country.

Gold is also a popular item for export to Vietnam because it receives a high price on the black market, he said.

“The amount of money (being sent to Vietnam) is way in excess of what a family needs to get by,” Frank said. “Many people see the money as continuing to prolong the Communist government.”