Albanian-American man suing Customs and Border Protection after they seize his life savings without charging him

An Ohio man is suing U.S. Customs and Border Protection, WEWS-TV reports.

He says they took his life savings during a search at the airport, even though he was never charged with any crime.

Rustem Kazazi had finally saved up enough money to go back home to Albania and look for a vacation spot for him and his wife, but his son Erald says that dream was short-lived.

"While he was traveling domestically, he was carrying all his life savings," Erald said.

Erald says before his father flew out of the country, he was all set to declare his just over $58,000 in cash, but the money didn't make it that far.

"He was intercepted by TSA at the airport because he had money in his luggage," he said.

According to Erald, TSA called Customs and Border Protection and they took all of his dad's cash, allegedly accusing him of smuggling or drug trafficking, but he was never actually charged with anything.

"We've never even done anything wrong so to have CBP take his money with no cause whatsoever was shocking," he said.

It's been over seven months and the Kazazi family wants the money they've saved over decades of hard work.

"Innocent until proven guilty, in this case it doesn't seem so, it seems like they want us to prove our innocence," Erald says.