Innovations

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, about whom I know little but who seems to one of the most sensible officials in the US when it comes to drug trafficking, complained that drug traffickers have been sneaking money across the border using pre-paid store cards. The cards work like a Starbucks gift card, except the it's not Starbucks credit but rather cash on the cards. Because the cards aren't covered by money-laundering statutes, American officials can't check their value at the border. A drug runner could in theory have several hundred thousand dollars in a bagful of cards, and American officials would have no way of verifying their suspicions that the plastic contained drug money. 

This is yet another example that authorities are always playing catch-up. Goddard presumably wants federal legislation to close this loophole, but by the time it is passed, gangs will already have a half dozen new tricks for sneaking cash across the border.