🚢 More than 600 stolen vehicles worth over $36 million were recovered at the Port of Newark.
🔎 Authorities say criminal networks recruit children as young as 10 to steal cars.
🌎 Many vehicles were headed to West Africa and the Dominican Republic.
Federal and local authorities at the Port of Newark have recovered more than 600 stolen vehicles worth more than $36 million destined for other countries, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
That’s the most stolen vehicles seized at any port nationwide within a calendar year, said CBP Director of Field Operations Francis Russo said. Through Operation Terminus 3.0, authorities seized and recovered 33 stolen vehicles in just five days.
The vehicles were largely headed toward West Africa and the Dominican Republic, authorities said. According to the FBI, stolen vehicles have been shipped overseas to fund terrorism in some cases.
Port of Newark Director TenaVel Thomas speaks at the port on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
New Jersey car theft networks recruit children as young as 10
Stealing cars in New Jersey is big business driven by large, sophisticated criminal networks, according to authorities. In June, state prosecutors charged 63 people with stealing $8 million worth of vehicles.
Investigators said leaders of the transnational criminal networks get children as young as 10 years old to steal these cars.
Some crews walk through neighborhoods, pulling on car door handles to find unlocked vehicles. Others steal them through violent carjackings, or through fraud — renting a car with no intent to return it, or buying a car with no intent to pay.
Investigators said one criminal network sold cars on social media with fraudulent VINs. In one case, they sold a stolen car for tens of thousands of dollars, and then stole it back from the buyer.
Photo by Ali Aliakbari on Unsplash
Stolen cars can be used in crimes before being shipped overseas
Many of these stolen vehicles are used in other crimes, including homicides, before they are loaded onto shipping containers with fraudulent documents and altered vehicle identification numbers.
“This illegal trade represents a significant loss for American consumers, businesses and insurance companies and it undermines the integrity of our borders,” Newark Port Director TenaVel Thomas said.
The Auto Export Crimes Task Force is tasked with dismantling the criminal networks behind the vehicle thefts. They issued 534 penalties worth more than $1.8 million in fines for violations of vehicle export rules, according to CBP.
State Police, CBP, Port Authority police, NYPD, Homeland Security Investigations in Newark, and the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office helped in the investigations.
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