The Legal Adviser for the Directorate-General of Customs, Dr. Daniel Jerez Rivera, revealed yesterday that his department has detected the importation into the DR in the last two years of over 2,000 cars stolen in the U.S. Most of the vehicles are sports utility vehicles ("jeepetas") or cars of the BMW, Mercedes Benz, Lexus, Honda or Toyota brands. Most, he claimed, are subsequently sold in Haiti. He attributed the activity to an international contraband network as sophisticated as any drug trafficking mafia, aided by ties within both American and Dominican governments. He insisted, however, that Customs has been successfully cracking down on the stolen car traffickers and that the network is finding it increasingly difficult to function here. He noted that the DR and U.S. Customs have an agreement whereby the U.S. checks the chassis number of all vehicles entering the DR to see if the vehicles have been reported stolen.
