Article By Frank Bergman
Federal investigators probing a sprawling Somali fraudster cash-courier network have uncovered a new and troubling waypoint in what officials now describe as a nationwide pipeline funneling enormous sums of stolen taxpayer money overseas.
According to officials with the Department of Homeland Security, agents have identified Transportation Security Administration detections totaling roughly $136 million in bulk cash moving through John Glenn Columbus International Airport since November 2023.
Homeland Security officials told Just the News that TSA officers repeatedly flagged U.S. citizens of Somali origin departing Columbus with large amounts of declared cash packed into checked luggage.
The travelers were typically bound for Minneapolis or Atlanta.
From there, investigators believe the money followed a familiar and now-alarming route.
“Typically, when they go to Minneapolis, they drop off the cash and then a subsequent courier travels abroad from Minneapolis to Dubai through Amsterdam,” one official involved in the probe said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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Minneapolis Emerges as the Central Hub
Federal agents now believe the Columbus operation is just one spoke feeding a much larger wheel of a national cash-movement network pulling money from Somali communities across the West, Midwest, and South before consolidating it in Minneapolis and exporting it overseas.
That suspicion is backed by staggering numbers.
TSA data reviewed by investigators shows nearly $700 million in cash leaving Minneapolis-area airports during 2024 and 2025 alone, frequently destined for Amsterdam and onward to Dubai, where U.S. authorities largely lose visibility.
Officials said the amounts moved through Minnesota dwarfed cash detections at major international hubs like JFK, Seattle, or Atlanta by 90 to 99 times.
Despite routine TSA flags during the Biden administration, officials acknowledged there was little appetite to aggressively pursue the money trail until President Donald Trump returned to office.
Senate Investigation Now Underway
The revelations have triggered action on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, confirmed this week that he is launching a formal investigation into whether the massive cash exports are tied to fraud.
Speaking on a podcast hosted by Joe Rogan, the senator described the situation as deeply concerning.
“So I think we are at the tip of the iceberg.”
He added that the money movements were openly declared at airports.
“They weren’t even hiding that they were sending it back,” Paul noted.
Fraud Scandal Ties Back to Minnesota
The expanding cash-courier probe comes as federal prosecutors continue unraveling what authorities say could be one of the largest welfare-fraud schemes in U.S. history, centered in Minnesota.
Investigators estimate as much as $9 billion may have been siphoned from taxpayer-funded programs, much of it linked to Somali-run organizations in the Minneapolis area.
The scandal has already had political consequences.
Democrat Gov. Tim Walz abandoned plans to seek reelection in 2026 as scrutiny intensified.
The fallout also prompted President Trump to end special immigration protections for Somali nationals and triggered a sweeping House Oversight Committee investigation.
Federal prosecutors have indicted more than 90 defendants, most of them of Somali descent.
Roughly half have already been convicted, according to officials.
A Pipeline Still Unraveling
With Columbus now added to the map, investigators say the picture is becoming clearer and more disturbing.
What began as suspicious cash flowing out of Minneapolis is now being traced backward through American cities, revealing a coordinated system moving enormous sums from U.S. communities into opaque foreign channels.
Officials caution that what has surfaced so far may represent only a fraction of the operation.
As one investigator put it: This is no longer a localized fraud problem.
The scandal is a national pipeline, and federal authorities believe they are only beginning to expose its full scale.
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