While hot on the trail of a stolen Honda, Texas authorities took an unexpected, yet ultimately rewarding, detour to the Port of Houston to uncover a sophisticated international crime ring.

It all began when an alert flashed on a Texas state trooper's onboard computer as he drove across a nearby bridge. The signal was originating from the LoJack device attached to a 2010 Honda Crossfit that had been stolen. Although the signal was strong, locating the ride proved trickier than expected. After sweeping the port parking lot, the Houston Police Department (HPD) determined the Honda was stashed somewhere inside the Port of Houston.

“We located the signal from a container yard where there were probably 40 to 50 containers being stacked,” said Senior Officer Jim Woods with the HPD.

Working together, the Port of Houston Police and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection were able to ensure that the containers were dismantled, one by one. Within a few hours, authorities found the Honda tightly packed, and apparently bound for Nigeria.

But U.S. Customs suspected the odd retrieval locale pointed to more than just grand theft auto. They proceeded to open all containers being shipped to Africa by the same person.

“[We found] two additional containers in the yard that were all bound for Lagos, Nigeria,” Woods explained. “This ultimately led to the recovery of six stolen vehicles that had been stolen from dealerships throughout the Dallas area.”

Is it possible that a lone mastermind is responsible for orchestrating the operation? Probably not, but authorities have learned that each of the vehicles in question were lifted during or after test drives by a man who claimed to be responding to an Internet ad posted by the dealerships.

At present, police have a generic description of the suspect and a possible name (and) cell phone number. Woods added the man is likely a “low-level thief,” hired by an unknown U.S. middleman, whom leaders of the crime ring in Nigeria presumably enlisted. HPD said the person whose name was found on the ship's manifest has since been identified. That Garland, Tex. resident has retained an attorney but is not currently cooperating with investigators.

The Honda that led to the shipyard appears to be the anomaly, as most of the stolen rides were Toyota models, all of them brimming with various goods, such as bottled water, lotion, clothes, and rice.

By all accounts, this significant find was a success; however, breaking up these types of rings is difficult in general. U.S. Customs reports that around 6,000 vehicles are exported each month, making the comparison of every manifest with every VIN number virtually impossible.

Special Reports /

LoJack and the Nigerian Car Theft Ring

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