This story of recovering stolen heavy equipment reads like an intriguing novel -- a transnational criminal organization, global tracking, international assistance, and an eventual stateside reuniting with rightful owners.

On October 15, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Norfolk, Va., completed the seizure of six pieces of heavy equipment that were initially stolen in Massachusetts, exported through Newark, N.J., recovered in a shipping container in Spain and redelivered to Norfolk.

This Kubota backhoe was one of the six pieces of heavy equipment stolen from a Massachusetts rental company.

The heavy equipment, which included a 2023 Bobcat skid steer, a Kubota backhoe, two 2018 Bomag drum compactors, two 2019 Genie 19-foot scissor lifts, and 75 heavy equipment batteries, were initially stolen from a rental company in Woburn, Mass. Collectively, the heavy equipment and batteries were valued at over $200,000.

CBP officers on the outbound enforcement team in Norfolk were researching export container manifests on vessels transiting through Norfolk on July 5 for potentially stolen vehicles. They identified a container manifested as machinery road rollers that was laden on a container ship days earlier in Newark and was enroute to Guinea. Officers also realized that the ship had already departed Norfolk.

CBP officers in Norfolk requested that officers with CBP’s Container Security Initiative (CSI) work with their Spanish partners to inspect the container upon arrival to Algeciras, Spain, the container ship’s next port of call.

CSI, which CBP launched immediately after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, addresses threats posed by terrorist organizations to our national security and to the global supply chain before those potential threats reach our borders. CBP officers are deployed to foreign seaports to work alongside host country government counterparts with the goal of targeting and examining high-risk cargo.

CBP’s CSI Algeciras officers examined the container on July 29 and discovered unmanifested heavy equipment and batteries in addition to the road rollers. CSI officers contacted the rental company in Massachusetts for information on the heavy equipment. The rental company realized that their heavy equipment was stolen and filed a theft report with Massachusetts authorities. CBP ordered the container to be redelivered to Norfolk.

CBP officer in Norfolk examined the container on August 26 and detained the heavy equipment.

On October 15, CBP officers turned the heavy equipment and batteries over to Virginia State Police for eventual return to the Massachusetts rental company.

This Bomag drum compactor is also part of the stolen heavy equipment intercepted by CBP officers in Algeciras, Spain, and recovered by CBP officers in Norfolk, Va.

An investigation continues.

“Customs and Border Protection often talks about the multiple layers that we employ to protect our nation and our citizens, but these layers are also effective in enforcing international trade compliance and recovering stolen property,” said Mark Laria, CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News, Va. “Our outbound enforcement team communicates often with their colleagues at other CBP ports of entry across the United States and with our CSI partners worldwide to increase CBP’s ability to disrupt transnational criminal organizations and interdict illicit cargo, such as stolen vehicles, weapons, and bulk currency, that are being exported from the United States.”

CBP’s Baltimore Field Office, which includes CBP’s Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News, is proficient at recovery stolen vehicles being exported from the United States.

In July, the Baltimore Field Office announced its stolen vehicle recoveries summary from fiscal year 2023. CBP officers intercepted 343 stolen vehicles during fiscal year 2023 (Oct.1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2023), a 44% increase over the previous year’s recoveries. About 90%, or 310 recovered stolen vehicles, were destined to West Africa, including seven vehicles destined to Guinea. The 343 recovered stolen vehicles were valued at about $17.7 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.