Opinion ID: 2995597
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reasonable suspicion of criminal

Text: activity. Last, we examine whether customs inspectors had reasonable suspicion that Teng was involved in criminal activity. Teng contends that the only reason that he was stopped and his luggage was searched was that his traveling companion was caught with drugs, and that this is not enough to create a reasonable suspicion that he was involved in criminal activity. The government responds that in addition to drugs being found in Lee Pao ’s bag, both were traveling on the exact same itinerary from Laos, a drug source nation, to St. Paul, Minnesota, a known opium destination, and that Teng failed to respond when his name was called on the speakers. After considering the evidence presented in the evidentiary hearing, the district court concluded that a reasonable suspicion existed to detain Teng and search his bags./4 This final factor in the extended border search doctrine is analogous to a Terry stop. See United States v. Lopez-Gonzalez, 916 F.2d 1011, 1013 & n. 3 (5th Cir. 1990) (explaining that factors relevant to the reasonable suspicion inquiry for a Terry stop might also be relevant to the reasonable suspicion inquiry in an extended border search, particularly for those stops in which the transportation of contraband is suspected). Under Terry, the detention of an individual or a luggage search without a warrant is permissible under the Fourth Amendment where there is reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20-23 (1968); United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 708 (1983). Reasonable suspicion of criminal activity must be based on specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences therefrom, reasonably warrant [an] intrusion. United States v. Mancillas, 183 F.3d 682, 695 (7th Cir. 1999) (citations omitted). The suspicion justifying a search of this type must be based on objective factors and judged in light of the experience of the customs agents. United States v. Dorsey, 641 F.2d 1213, 1219 (7th Cir. 1981). An illustrative, but not exhaustive, list of these factors appears in United States v. Asbury, 586 F.2d 973, 976-77 (2d Cir. 1978). That list includes nervous or unusual conduct, tips from informants, loose clothing, travel itinerary, lack of employment, discovery of incriminating matter during routine searches, information from a search or interrogation of a traveling companion, inadequate luggage, and evasive or contradictory answers. Dorsey, 641 F.2d at 1219, n.12 (citing Asbury, 586 F.2d at 976-77). Here, Teng evaded contact with the authorities at the terminal, they learned his itinerary from his traveling companion, and had discovered a significant amount of drugs on his companion. Additionally, the officers knew that Laos was a source country for opium and that St. Paul was a common destination for opium in the midwest. All of these factors, when considered in concert, demonstrate reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was occurring. See Cardenas, 9 F.3d at 1151 (holding that finding drug paraphernalia on a traveling companion who had recently traveled from the Philippines, combined with suspicious behavior, constituted reasonable suspicion for the purposes of an extended border search). Therefore, under the extended border search doctrine, we conclude that the search of Teng was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Officers had a reasonable certainty that Teng had crossed the border and that his luggage had not changed in condition, and they had a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was occurring.