I want closure on the 25 year old woman and the $100k she was transporting in a suitcase. Did she go to court to get it back? Or is this a situation where 9 times out of 10 the cash was ill-gotten and so it is forfeited to avoid criminal charges?
But there are plenty of stories out there of people having very large amounts taken from them on their way to buy cars or whatever. The story probably picked a bad example but the police are definitely just taking whatever they can get without any regard for justice.
It really doesn't matter: if someone wants to carry a large quantity of cash on a plane, this is still an open society and freedom must be defended.
I agree there probably are times that it happens, but it's very unlikely. There are much better examples where the police steal large amounts of cash even when there's an obvious legitimate explanation.
You can't just walk into any bank branch you have an account with an expect to withdraw 10s of thousands of dollars without notice.
Also, there are tons of people with online only banks. No physical branches at all!
I'm not saying it never happens, it's just extremely suss.