NORFOLK, Va. — US Customs and Border Protection is working to stop criminals from trying to bring illegal and dangerous products into our ports.
Agents have been busy in Norfolk after reporting that they’re finding violations and seizing illegally imported products.
They said these violations covered counterfeit goods, goods determined to be potentially unsafe by consumer protection authorities, and goods imported using identity theft.
They said all together the goods were valued at nearly $856,000.
"It's so prevalent we can't catch it all," US Customs Border and Protection Chief James Askew said.
They said officers recently seized 697 cartons of short-sleeved and long-sleeved dry fit t-shirts that were being fraudulently imported from Morocco to Albany, N.Y., using a victim’s stolen identity. The dry-fit t-shirts were valued at $61,240.
They seized a shipment of 1,500 rugs that the Consumer Product and Safety Commission determined violated the Flammable Fabrics Act and said that shipment, which arrived from Turkey and was destined to Tustin, Calif., was valued at $3,720.
Officers said they also seized a shipment that contained 1,233 pieces of ceramic tiles, sound absorbing panels, garden pots, poker tables and accessories, and various Land Rover parts that were being fraudulently imported using a victim’s stolen identity. That shipment, which originated in China and was destined to San Francisco, was valued at about $60,000.
They also seized 1,000 ceramic sinks for bearing counterfeit UPC Shield certifications.
They said they were shipped from China and were destined to Atlanta, valued at $45,000 had they been authentic.
“These seizures illustrate Customs and Border Protection’s expansive trade enforcement authority and its vital role in protecting American consumers, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s economic security by detecting high-risk shipments, deterring noncompliance, and disrupting fraudulent behavior,” said CBP Area Port Director Keri Brady, Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News. “CBP remains committed to combatting bad actors and transnational criminal organizations by depriving them of these illegal shipments and the illicit revenues they provide.”
"The lack of information that’s provided, the false information that’s provided, false phone numbers, false addresses. It’s very difficult to track them down," Askew said.
Askew said it’s a growing problem that they continue to combat.
He said sometimes criminals are undervaluing how much the shipment is worth when reporting it.
“They are evading duties and tariffs. Therefore, it’s costing the American taxpayer money,” said Askew.
They’ve allowed the WTKR News 3 Investigative Team into their facility and shown us all the products they find, many times fancy stolen cars that have been stuffed into shipping containers.
“These criminals are getting three times the cost of the vehicle so it’s very lucrative for the criminals,” said Askew.
He said sometimes the illegal items are dangerous especially when it comes to electrical equipment.
“If somebody uses that product, it could cause their house to catch fire so we’re protecting the American people by stopping bringing these products in,” said Askew. “We got Christmas season coming up so we are starting to shift to targeting season items.”
He said monitoring everything coming in is a challenge.
“There are hundreds of thousands of containers coming in. It’s very difficult. We don’t have the time to open every container. We’d stop commerce so our job is to keep commerce moving keep legitimate trade travel going. We just try to pick off the ones we know we’re bad.”
This is a developing story, so check back with WTKR.com for updates.This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. To learn more about how we use AI in our newsroom,
