Criminals are smuggling an estimated \$30 billion in U.S. currency into Mexico each year from the United States, but help could be on the way for border guards, researchers will report in the American Chemical Society today. The answer to the problem: a portable device that identifies specific vapors given off by U.S. paper money. They will present the new research at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society. The meeting features nearly 12,000 reports on new advances in science and other topics. It is being held here through Thursday. In the past fiscal year, law enforcement officials say they uncovered more than \$106 million in smuggled cash headed from the U.S. to Mexico. But this was only a small portion of the billions that made it across the border undetected — hidden among belongings, in clothing or elsewhere. The bulk of that currency is laundered drug money. Travelers crossing the U.S./Mexico border are required to report cash or endorsed checks over \$10,000. If they don’t declare larger sums, the money that is found can be seized. “We’re developing a device that mimics the function of trained dogs ‘sniffing’ out concealed money,
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