Traveler reports toting $1,500 ... no, $50,000 ... $80,000, then flees

For most travelers, missing a flight is a sure sign of a bad day. But one man recently discovered how costly a mistake it can be.

At Boston Logan International Airport,a man who was forced to book a second flight after missing his first raised eyebrows while going through a TSA checkpoint. When asked about a large sum of money he was carrying, he initially told inspectors that he had $1,500 in cash, according to the Massachusetts State Police.

But after various security and law enforcement officers, who suspected the man of traveling to a destination known as a “source area for illegal narcotics,” started asking more questions about the money, the amount kept getting higher.

“As the passenger went through a TSA checkpoint he was questioned about a large quantity of US currency he was carrying, and stated that the amount was $1,500,” police said. “When Massachusetts State Police Troopers from Troop F questioned the passenger subsequently, he claimed he was carrying $40,000 to $50,000 cash.”

When detectives for the Massachusetts State Police questioned the man further, he told investigators he was carrying between $80,000 and $85,000 in cash. After a K-9 unit — including a dog named Duke — trained to detect narcotics odor “showed a strong alert to the man’s belongings” the man took off, having never given police an accurate number of the sum he had in his possession.

Later, police investigators learned that the man was carrying a total of $138,980 in cash, which the agency says will be subject to forfeiture proceedings.