U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Area Port of Baltimore led a multi-agency enforcement operation last week to intercept outbound stolen vehicles and to disrupt the vast and expansive stolen vehicle criminal networks.
Operation Terminus combined resources and authorities of CBP, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Coast Guard, FBI, National Insurance Crime Bureau, Maryland Transportation Authority Police, and Baltimore County Police Department. The goal of Operation Terminus is to recover as many stolen vehicles as possible at the port before they are exported and vanish into the global illicit stolen vehicle market.
For CBP, officers from Ports of Entry in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Savannah, Ga., Charleston, S.C., and Norfolk, Va., participated in Operation Terminus.
Operation Terminus partners seized 12 vehicles and one John Deere combine with an estimated total value of $428,306. The vehicles were destined to West Africa, while the John Deere combine was destined to South America after being reported stolen in Michigan.
“The success of Operation Terminus isn’t measured in the volume of vehicles recovered, but the relationships formed among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies,” said Steven Wachstein, CBP’s Acting Assistant Area Port Director for Tactical Operations. “Operation Terminus brings people, ideas, and solutions together in an effort to disrupt the flow of outbound stolen vehicles.”
Below is a list of the vehicles, and their approximate values, recovered during Operation Terminus at the Port of Baltimore:
