U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Minneapolis-St. Paul seized 165,000 illicit vaping products that originated from China and were headed to a wholesaler in California, the agency said Monday.
In total, CBP officers seized 90,000 illicit electronic nicotine delivery system products and 75,000 refill cartridges valued at more than $1.47 million.
Local CBP officers were alerted to these shipments from intelligence gathered from the Chicago Field Office.
The shipments contained several flavors of unauthorized vaping products, including Blue Razz, Iced Lush, Blue Lightning, Gum Mint, Turkish Tobacco and Classic Tobacco.
“The excellent intelligence sharing helped our officers identify and intercept these shipments that could potentially harm the health and wellbeing of people within our communities,” said LaFonda Sutton-Burke, director of field operations in the Chicago field office.
Federal officials determined the products should be seized for violating the Food and Drug Administration's Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, due to the lack of required FDA marketing authorization and that the products were found to be adulterated and misbranded, CBP said.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s trade enforcement mission places a significant emphasis on intercepting illicit products, and we will continue to work with our consumer product safety partners to identify and seize unsafe and illicit goods,” Sutton-Burke said in a statement.
On Thursday, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced the results of a weeklong enforcement action, dubbed Operation Vape Trail. The agency’s action led to the seizure of 2.3 million vape devices and cartridges.
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