Comment by martin1975 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by martin1975 | Hacker News Reader

I come from a country that borders Albania... Albania has a 60% muslim population, and given our current administration and mood toward islam, it is highly doubtful they were after his money but rather after something that went off on their 'threat to national security' radar. Could be a mistaken identity too, it's not unheard of .. many names on those watch lists sound similar or are not the same person at all.

I'm betting all moneys will be returned to him when they conclude whatever investigation they need to conclude. This is just a sensationalist headline that doesn't do any service to anyone....

Edit:

Funny, people downvote as if the government has no case - they clearly sent him a notice that “Enforcement activity indicates that the currency was involved in a smuggling/drug trafficking/money laundering operation.” and “pursuant to an administrative search of Mr. Kazazi and his bags, TSA agents discovered artfully concealed U.S. currency. Mr. Kazazi provided inconsistent statements regarding the currency, had no verifiable source of income and possessed evidence of structuring activity,” that is, making cash withdrawals of less than $10,000 to avoid reporting requirements."

Most cash has traces of drugs on it... and serial #'s on notes are sometimes marked when drug stings are conducted.

All I'm saying is, there's two sides to the story - not just the WaPo one. I guess it's hard to depict that on HN... WaPo isn't the source of truth on this - just an opinion. Like mine. Or anyone else here.

No, most forfeiture is not returned to the victim.

Because it's not innocent until declared guilty, it's guilty until declared innocent. Forfeiture does not follow human vs USA. It's 56,000 $ VS USA.

At Airports you waive your right to search protection.

Sorry, that just doesn't make any sense. Take it to an extreme... if this can be done to anyone for no reason like you suggest - e.g. "he looks guilty, so I'll search/forfeit whatever funds I find" - then that's a major breakdown.

Assuming you are correct- and I don't know - then even if that is the case, there has to be a way to get the money back however arduous or red-tape it may be, and eventually claim damages for the administrative cost of recovery.

We're not a banana republic... yet (I hope). If they did it to him in Albania, then I wouldn't be nearly surprised or possibly at all. I've encountered corrupt border patrol officials I had to bribe to get out of a mess.. and it was in one of the Balkan countries, I won't name which.

The poster you're replying to is basically correct about how civil asset forfeiture works in the US. If you search, there are plenty of articles about similar cases.

If there's truth to it, without understanding the govt's rationale about this, it looks about as un-American and un-capitalistic as it gets.... goes against the grain of who we are as a country.

It's true, its un-american, and here's a video from John Oliver so you can learn more about this ongoing heinous practice the police use to prey on the poor and defenseless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks

Yes it's true and it is very well documented. Yes it does go against what America should stand for, yet it has also been strongly defended by a whole slew of people who claim to be Patriots.

Now you understand why it's so upsetting, welcome to the same page.

Edit:

The part that most filled me with rage;

The CBP seizure notice gave the Kazazis a number of options for proceeding with the case. They could abandon the cash completely, or they could make an “offer in compromise” — letting CBP keep a certain percentage of the seized cash if it returned the rest.

I wondered about the bribery comparison above, as you aren't offering the money and aren't getting someone to do something for you, but how is that last part anything but ("If you let us keep some, we will return your money")? That whole thing seems to suggest there isn't a legitimate reason for seizing it-either they should be keeping ALL of the money, or NONE of it.

Civil asset forfeiture does not return anything without a fight... it's a guilty until proven innocent system. It's been a big problem with anyone carrying even a few hundred dollars in a LOT of places in the US. It needs a Supreme Court smackdown is what it needs.

Albania is mostly an atheist country, and only 43% of people identify as religious, (and it includes muslim, catholic and orthodox). It is part of NATO and it is in the process of getting into EU, and it is a staunch ally of USA, and probably the most EU/USA loving country in the region. (there are plenty of sentiment polls that have measured this).

I sympathize with the Kazasis. Albania went through a major shock after the fall of communism in 91, and it had another financial collapse in 97-98, where people lost of of their money on companies/financial institutions that promised lots of returns (pyramid schemes).

People of Mr. Kazasi's generation went through a lot, and have a deep distrust of both financial and governmental institutions for good reasons. Also, he was put into a catch 22 situation, where he couldn't declare the money until he went to New Ark (the port of exist), and had to deal with a corrupt system that doesn't care.

The back to back financial collapses of the 90's are the main reason that the older generations like him, prefer to deal with cash, while younger generations, (the one that become adults after 2000), embrace the modern style of consumerism (banks, ATMs, credit cards, etc). About 58k, is exactly what a house/apt costs around non-prime areas, so this story checks out.

I hope they win, and more stories like this get covered by the press.

Mostly atheist? You clearly haven't been to Albania...

I travel in Albania annually and visit all major regions, and I now speak the language and am always keen to talk about local customs. The Hoxha era had a serious impact. Today, religious observance in Albania is low, and for most of the population any declared religious affiliation is mostly a matter of ethnographic color, not serious belief. Opinion polls in Albania regularly reflect this. “Atheist” may be too strong a word, but “religious” these people ain’t by and large.

Yes.. they aren't religious, they're just mostly ass backwards, as anyone who has set foot in Albania can attest to. But to deny the islamic influence, IMHO, would be silly.

That's a breach of HN's civility guidelines. Please don't vent nationalistic remarks here, for or against. We don't want the flamewars it leads to.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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