Friday Fun – This is how U.S. Government Takes Care of “Illegally” Imported Vehicles

August 16, 2013 at 5:11 pm

via Huffingtonpost

Apparently this is how the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (covers U.S. Customs and Border Patrol) takes care of imported vehicles with falsified documentation.. As Huffingtonpost notes,  this Land Rover Defender reached the Port of Baltimore with falsified identification numbers, claiming to be an older model.  But when the USCBP folks found out that this model is in fact newer and tinkered with to look “vintage”, they decided to junk it because it does not comply with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency regulations.  The seized vehicle — estimated to be worth $25,000 overseas but as much as $150,000 in the U.S. — was considered “illegal and unsafe,” officials said. Such a non-compliant vehicle cannot be imported unless it is at least 25 years old, officials said.   It seems that dozens of similar Defender vehicles have been seized in recent months at ports around the country and one can only imagine the rivers of tears shed by the owners when they learned the fate.