REPORT: Feds Catch Somali ‘Couriers’ Smuggling $700M In Cash Through Minneapolis Airport

Federal screeners flagged nearly $700 million in cash stuffed into passengers’ luggage leaving Minneapolis over the past two years, a staggering outflow authorities believe is tied to Somali immigrants and professional money couriers, Homeland Security officials told Just the News.

Officials said the cash traffic out of Minnesota’s largest airport began roughly a decade ago, around the time Democratic Gov. Tim Walz took office, and ballooned in recent years.

The funds were legally declared under U.S. Customs regulations. Still, the sheer volume raised alarms with Transportation Security Administration agents, who routinely encountered bundles of cash, sometimes reaching $1 million on a single trip, Just The News reports.

The exodus of dollars is now under investigation by Homeland Security Investigations as part of a broader probe into a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme centered on Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community. Dozens of people connected to that network have been charged with or convicted of federal crimes.

In March of last year, a federal jury convicted the head of the now-defunct Feeding Our Future organization in Minnesota in what prosecutors described as the largest fraud involving pandemic aid. The case centered on $250 million, according to the BBC.

Officials said most of the cash detected in luggage was carried by a relatively small group of Somali-descended couriers who repeatedly flew from the United States to Dubai, often routing through Amsterdam. The trips usually originated in Minneapolis, but officials said couriers also departed from Seattle, Dallas, Columbus and Atlanta.

Minneapolis travelers alone were found carrying $342.37 million in cash in 2024 and $349.4 million in 2025. Officials said the national totals are likely far higher. Those are staggering figures, given that Somalia’s GDP is a laughable $11B.

Somali women in the country’s capital, Mogadishu, on June 5. AMISOM Photo / Tobin Jones.

TSA agents regularly referred the cases to Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations. But officials said there was little follow-up during the Biden administration. Serious inquiries into the scope of the cash flows and the people behind them only began after Donald Trump returned to the White House, the officials told Just the News.

One senior official with first-hand knowledge of the issue said enforcement options were limited because couriers consistently had their paperwork in order. Still, concerns persisted about the source and destination of the money. The official said it may ultimately require congressional action to change federal law if authorities want to fully stop or unravel the practice.

Another official said federal inquiries were often met with hostility at the state level, with Minnesota officials accusing investigators of racism for asking questions about Somali-linked cash movements.

Federal and state law enforcement officials said the cash flows have been well known in counterterrorism circles since roughly 2016 to 2018, driven by concerns that some of the money could end up with al-Qaeda-linked groups such as Al-Shabaab or Boko Haram. Tracking often stopped once the money reached Dubai, officials said, citing a lack of interest during the Biden years even as transfers grew larger.

Authorities believe the Somali couriers are part of a far broader system in which legal and illegal immigrants move tens of billions of dollars out of the United States each year through flights or remittance payment services.

Missouri State Treasurer Vivek Malek told Just the News that more than $200 billion leaves the country annually through remittances. Mexico alone receives more than $52 billion, with billions more sent to China, the Middle East and African nations. A significant share involves illegal immigrants, most of whom crossed the border during the Biden administration, he said.

“It has been found that at least $4.4 billion in remittances sent to Mexico have been tied to cartel money laundering through small wire transfers,” Malek said. “Cartels don’t sneak money across the border or throw the bag across the border. They wire it. And if we are serious about crushing cartels, we have to shut down their financial arteries.”

Malek said he is working with Missouri lawmakers to require remittance businesses to verify that customers are lawfully in the United States before sending money overseas. He said he hopes other states will follow suit.

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