$142,000 in plywood "clandestinely imported from China" seized at port, customs agency says

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized a shipment of falcata plywood sheets worth $142,000 near the Port of Baltimore on Aug. 27, the agency announced Wednesday.

CBP said the plywood was transported in a container ship and was discovered at a CBP examining station. The shipment contained more than 8,500 sheets of plywood that were imported "using a stolen identity, were undervalued, and were clandestinely imported from China."

The plywood shipment was initially inspected on July 9. The importer declared that the shipment originated in Indonesia and was valued at about $19,000. It was addressed to a location near Denver. The shipment was detained for further investigation.

Officials later determined that the importer of record used a fraudulent identity on the import documents and tampered with the shipping invoice. The victim of the identity fraud confirmed that they had not ordered the plywood and had no connection to the importing company.

Investigators determined that the plywood actually originated in China and was subject to "antidumping and countervailing" duties.

CBP said it is illegal to import China-origin goods through third countries to evade duty laws.

CBP officers seized the plywood as "smuggled or clandestinely introduced merchandise."

"Customs and Border Protection officers continue to crack down on illegal trade practices, such as commodities imported using stolen identities to mask the true importer, and transshipping misclassified and undervalued imports through third nations in a duty evasion scheme," said Adam Rottman, CBP's Area Port Director in Baltimore.

CBP said antidumping and countervailing duty laws help level the playing field for U.S. companies by preventing foreign producers from flooding U.S. markets with goods sold below fair value or supported by unfair government subsidies.