IN-BOND SCAM IN LOS ANGELES ROILS U.S. CUSTOMS
U.S. Customs remains “seriously disturbed” about a recent smuggling incident in Los Angeles in which containers arriving in the United States with in-bond status were sent north — into the U.S. — instead of south, to Mexico, according to Janet L. Labuda, director of the Textile Enforcement and Operations Division of the U.S. Customs Service.
Speaking Wednesday in New York at a conference of the United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA). Labuda said that 5,000 containers had been smuggled into the United States, representing $63 million in lost customs duties.
The containers had been shipped and let in under import documentation arranged in Mexico. The Mexican documents then were found to have been forged.
U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner told attendees at the conference that U.S. Customs would remain intact after its move from the U.S. Treasury Department into the recently approved Department of Homeland Security.