Travellers with US$10,000 or equivalent in cash or other monetary instrument are required, by law to advise Customs officials at entry.

"Bringing more than $10,000 is not illegal. What's illegal is not declaring it," said Commissioner of Customs, Hector Jones.

The Customs Department in a release said serveral persons have been charged recently for false declarations, under section 209 of the Customs Act, for not alerting officials to the fact that they were in possession of large sums of money.

The penalty is a $500,000 fine, "or treble the value of the goods to which the offence relates, whichever is greater."