CBP’s Baltimore Field Office Announces Fiscal Year 2023 Recoveries of Stolen Vehicle Being Exported from the U.S.

BALTIMORE – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in the Baltimore Field Office intercepted 343 stolen vehicles during fiscal year 2023 (Oct.1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2023), a 44% increase over the previous year’s recoveries. The recovered vehicles were valued at about $17.7 million.

About 90%, or 310, of the stolen vehicles recovered by CBP officers in the Baltimore Field Office were destined to West Africa.

Nationally, CBP recovered 1,316 stolen vehicles during fiscal year 2023, an increase of about 6.5%, before they could be exported from the United States.

Rigorous import and export examinations remain a critical component to CBP’s border security mission. CBP officers search for illicit narcotics, unlicensed firearms, counterfeit consumer goods, and other commodities that violate U.S. export laws. During vehicle examinations, CBP officers inspect export documentation and compare a vehicle’s identification number (VIN) against stolen vehicle reports.

During many of the seizures, CBP officers partnered with special agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), who, along with their state and local law enforcement partners on HSI’s Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) carried out investigations into the stolen vehicles. These investigations are bearing convictions.

On June 6, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced the sentencing of two Laurel, Maryland men for illegally shipping stolen vehicles to West Africa.

“The international trade in stolen vehicles is just one of many revenue streams for transnational criminal organizations, so Customs and Border Protection officers will continue to strike back by recovering these vehicles and reuniting them with their lawful owners,” said Matthew Davies, Acting Director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office. “Auto theft remains a rising concern in the United States. CBP remains committed to working with our federal, state, and local partners to hold these exporters accountable.”

The Baltimore Field Office covers an area from Trenton, N.J., to the Virginia – North Carolina state line, and includes New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Vehicles and other conveyances are exported through busy seaports in the Delaware Valley region, Baltimore, and Norfolk, Va.

The following data points offer insight into the Baltimore Field Office’s recovered stolen vehicles during 2023.

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 2023. Learn more 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.