With new vehicle theft trends emerging, including the rise of stolen vehicles being exported out of the United States, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), a not-for-profit organization aimed at preventing insurance fraud, announced its partnership with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as part of “Operation Terminus,” to prevent stolen vehicles from being smuggled out of the country through seaports around the nation.

“NICB is proud to work with partners like U.S. Customs and Border Protection to disrupt transnational criminal networks,” said David J. Glawe, president and CEO of NICB. “These partnerships are critical to the success of identifying and significantly degrading the ability of these criminals to continue their global operations. Addressing this problem requires a coordinated and comprehensive approach involving law enforcement agencies, government authorities, international partners, and industry stakeholders. This is especially important because stolen vehicles that are exported are often repurposed for illicit activities such as smuggling drugs, weapons, or even terrorists across borders.”

Organized crime syndicates often orchestrate the theft and export of vehicles, utilizing sophisticated tactics to evade detection, the NICB said. Criminal networks may alter vehicle identification numbers (VINs), forge documents or employ other methods to disguise the true origins of stolen vehicles, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace and recover them.

NICB has reportedly disrupted nearly 2,000 organized criminal networks over the past year and recovered more than 300,000 vehicles, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Our partnership with NICB is critical in our fight against vehicle theft and in disrupting transnational criminal organizations. By working together, we are leveraging our capabilities to deter criminal activities at home and across the globe,” said Diane Sabatino, Customs and Border Protection acting executive assistant commissioner, Office of Field Operations.

Over the past year, NICB agents, working alongside CBP officers as part of “Operation Terminus,” inspected shipping containers discovering multiple high-end vehicles worth more than $100,000 each, resulting in the seizure of multiple vehicles worth millions of dollars.

The seizures occurred at Seaports from New York, Newark, Norfolk, Baltimore south to Savannah and Miami Ports of Entry.

Many of the recovered stolen vehicles were bound for several different countries in Africa, the NICB reported.

Additionally, operations have also recovered hundreds of rounds of various caliber ammunition that were concealed in vehicles destined to Nigeria and other African ports.

“While many stolen vehicles are recovered, there is an increasing global demand particularly in regions where regulations are lax, and stolen goods can be easily laundered or resold on the black market,” Glawe said. “Stopping stolen vehicles from leaving the country requires effective detection and interception measures at various points of exit, including ports, border crossings, and shipping terminals.”