The mate and its implements, the yerba, the thermos, the bombilla, are almost an extension of the Argentine body. Perhaps for this reason a woman, who tried to enter the country through the San Roque González de Santa Cruz International Bridge, coming from Paraguay, thought that her matero team was the ideal place to hide a surprising amount of undeclared euros. She was in a car with Argentine control, but her secret plan was quickly discovered by agents of the General Directorate of Customs, who seized the wads of bills after discovering them in a control.
It all started when the woman completed the immigration procedures to enter Posadas from Encarnación. However, her nervous behavior caught the attention of customs inspectors. Clutching her mating gear and showing signs of uneasiness, she seemed to have something to hide.
The customs agents asked her if she had anything to declare, to which she replied in the negative, assuring that she only had a modest thermos holder. Faced with such a statement, they decided to ask him to open it. At first, she resisted, but after a tense moment, she finally relented.
The surprise was huge. Inside the pot, several wads of euros were found wrapped in kitchen paper. The banknotes of different denominations added up to a significant figure: 104,750 euros in total. The woman, visibly restless, tried to justify her act by stating: “I’m doing someone a favor, I didn’t know there were euros.”
However, the reality was undeniable. The amount of money far exceeded the limit allowed to enter the country without declaring, which is US$10,000 or its equivalent in another currency. The suspect’s maneuver constituted a flagrant violation of the baggage regime, and Customs acted accordingly, seizing all the money.
