Remember, simply carrying ‘large amounts of cash’ is considered a crime and your cash can be seized on nothing more than suspicion. Granted getting caught with $60,000 and a trunk full of cigarettes looks really suspicious. But a mere 28 cartons doesn’t quite add up to huge amounts of cash, even in New York. At $5 a pack, that’s only $1400 worth of smokes. These guys appear to be guilty of petty smuggling at the very least, but they should still be given due process.

For the sake of the argument, let’s say you are selling your car to a guy in the next state over. You drive your car over there to deliver it and rent a car to drive home. When you deliver the car, are you going to accept a check? Even cashiers checks carry the risk of forgery. If you’re speeding on the way home, you might find yourself pulled over by the cops, in a rental car, with $5,000 in cash in your pocket. In the United States, that is often enough to have it seized by local police. Then you’ll find yourself in the position of fighting to prove your innocence get it back.

Time might tell if these guys are really guilty of something? But keep this in mind the next time you’re traveling with more than $1000 cash on you.