Well, at this rate U.S. Customs and Border Protection recommends that kids across America hide their tricycles. Los Angeles CBP officers have seized a stolen 1970 Yamaha motorcycle that has been missing for 35 years, a case eerily similar to the missing Corvette.

Los Angeles CBP officers found the Corvette in a shipping container before it could be shipped to Sweden from the Port of Los Angeles last January. The Yamaha was seized last January by CBP officers at the Port of Los Angeles in a shipping container destined for another Scandinavian country, Finland.

Photo Credit: Gerald L. Nino

Yamaha owner Philip McMeen with the motorcycle that was recovered by CBP after being sold on eBay. McMeen told CBP Today: “The story of the recovery belongs to the people of the Customs and Immigration Service, California Highway Patrol, Long Beach Police Department and the N.I.C.B. Without them working closely and co-coordinating efforts I would have never seen this bike again. I appreciate the return of the motorcycle, but I appreciate more the job and efforts these men and women do every day to keep our ports, borders, streets and neighborhoods a lot safer places. Thank you all!”

The owner of the Corvette, a New York City resident at the time it was stolen in 1969, was located living in Northern California. The Yamaha owner, a Long Beach, Calif., resident at the time it was stolen in 1971, was located living in New England.

“Incredible!” said Philip M. McMeen, the Yamaha’s owner. “It’s as if a friend you hadn’t seen for 30 years walked back into your life, but hadn’t aged a day.”

McMeen now operates a different form of transportation – he’s an American Airlines pilot now residing in Concord, N.H. Captain McMeen took possession of his bike during a Long Beach Police Department media event on April 12.

The Yamaha was bought by a resident of Lahti, Finland, on Ebay for $1,725 on September 17, 2005. There were 21 bids for the bike, which was sold by a resident of Visalia, Calif. Both buyer and seller are innocent of any wrongdoing in this case.

In the process of exporting a vehicle from the U.S., the vehicle’s identification number (VIN) is run through the database of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. After CBP discovered the Yamaha in the shipping container, CBP and the California Highway Patrol ran the bike’s VIN. The information received from the NICB revealed the bike was stolen in Long Beach in 1971.

Long Beach Police Department Auto Theft detectives were notified and located the original theft report. With the assistance of the NICB the detectives were able to locate the victim.

After 35 years the 360cc motorcycle has only 9,380 miles on its odometer.

“The bike is small news. In the larger sense, it is just an indicator that there are hard working people out there from Customs and Border Protection, Highway Patrol, state and local agencies doing a very real job,” said McMeen. “They not only recover property, but prevent our technology from being exported and stop some very nasty imports from passing through our ports.”

$4.2 million in unsafe motorcycles kept off the street In March 2006 alone, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, CBP made five more seizures of motorcycles and scooters with a total domestic value of over $1.3 million. In the last twelve months, from March 2005 – March 2006, CBP has seized scooters and motorcycles with a domestic value of over $4.2 million. This extraordinary work was done by the Trade Sensitive Team (TST) (see box). Photo Credit: Wendy Vallejo Motorcycle seized by CBP’s Trade Sensitive Team in San Juan, Puerto Rico. CBP has teamed up with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that these noncompliant products are not allowed into the country. Importers attempt to enter merchandise as “off-road” vehicles when in fact the products were equipped with all necessary on-road use, such as headlights, taillights, speedometer marking more than 25 MPH, and brake lights. Some were found marked as “made in USA” on the Department of Transportation (DOT) labels when actually manufacture in China. Others did not possess the necessary certificates issued by EPA and DOT. Over 2,600 units were confiscated and not allowed to enter the United States.

About the TST The CBP Trade Sensitive Team (TST) in Puerto Rico is comprised of six members: Ludmila Rosario, Hector Carrillo, Eduardo Rivera, Erick Herrera, Wigberto Muñoz, Luis Ramos and supervisor Abraham DeLeon. The team is responsible for trade compliance examinations. They target suspect shipments using risk-management principles, and process shipments using existing automated systems. In addition to physical examination for tariff classification and value purposes, TST focuses on compliance specifically aimed at the interdiction of fraud, failure to manifest merchandise, intellectual property rights (IPR) violations, as well as violations of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Transportation (DOT), and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) rules, among others. Many of these violations are connected to criminal activity and some intelligence sources have linked counterfeiting activity to the possibility of funding terrorist activity. The counterfeiting and piracy of ideas, technology and products threatens America's economic vitality, poses potentially significant public health and safety risks to the American people, and strains the resources of U.S. courts and law enforcement officers. DB