BALTIMORE – 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:
| 1 | 2014 Toyota Camry | $10,650 |
| 2 | 2020 Toyota Corolla | $19,676 |
| 3 | 2010 Toyota Camry | $8,775 |
| 4 | 2010 Toyota RAV4 | $8,625 |
| 5 | 2006 Toyota Matrix | $3,125 |
| 6 | 2014 John Deere S680 Combine | $114,000 |
| 7 | 2013 Toyota Camry | $8,350 |
| 8 | 2015 Toyota Camry | $13,650 |
| 9 | Nissan Kicks | $23,697 |
| 10 | 2024 BMW X6 | $75,734 |
| 11 | 2022 Land Range Rover Sport | $78,524 |
| 12 | 2018 Land Range Rover Sport | $39,650 |
| 13 | 2021 Jeep Compass | $23,850 |
| Total | $428,306 |
In June, CBP reported on the Baltimore Field Office’s recovery of outbound stolen vehicles during fiscal year 2022. CBP officers at Ports of Entry in Baltimore, Norfolk, Wilmington and Philadelphia recovered 239 stolen vehicles last year with a combined value of about $11.5 million.
CBP's border security mission is led at our nation’s Ports of Entry by CBP officers and agriculture specialists from the Office of Field Operations. CBP screens international travelers and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, invasive weeds and pests, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.
See what CBP accomplished during "A Typical Day." in 2022. Learn more about CBP at www.CBP.gov.
Follow the Director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office on Twitter at @DFOBaltimore for breaking news, current events, human interest stories and photos, and CBP’s Office of Field Operations on Instagram at @cbpfieldops.