BOSTON – Federal officials say a Peruvian woman smuggled more than $1.2 million in counterfeit $100 bills hidden in yarn spindles through Boston's Logan International Airport.
Forty-seven-year-old Alejandrina Elsa Quispe Ramirez appeared in a Boston court Tuesday on charges including importing counterfeit currency into the U.S. Her lawyer declined to comment.
U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz's office says Peruvian National Police had contacted federal agents warning that a woman would be traveling to the U.S. with counterfeit funds.
Officials say federal agents pulled over a vehicle she was in after she landed at Logan on Monday. Ortiz says a search uncovered 140 yarn spindles, each containing $85,000 in counterfeit $100 bills.
Ortiz says Ramirez's visa application said the purpose of her visit was to go to a children's hospital for her son.
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