Homeland Security Investigations Details FY 2024 Export Enforcement Actions
DHS Homeland Security Investigations made 1,512 seizures for violations of export laws and regulations in FY 2024, an almost identical pace to 2023, according to the division's annual report, released last week. The Export Enforcement Coordination Center also uncovered 49 investigative leads that helped prevent procurement of sensitive U.S. technologies.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The division seized twice as many weapons in FY 2024 as it had in 2023, seizing 41,351 weapons headed for the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada and other destinations.
The operation targeting gun smuggling to Canada from the U.S. is called Operation Cold Steel. It had its largest weapons seizure this past year, which was led by HSI Miami. Buffalo's Border Enforcement Security Task Force and Canadian counterparts coordinated with HSI's Miami office to infiltrate a straw purchasing group in Florida. The government seized 110 firearms, 182 magazines, and 1,804 rounds of ammunition for violations of federal firearms trafficking laws in that case; throughout the year, they seized 331 firearms, 297 magazines and 2,917 rounds of ammunition.
Operation Dual Approach, a specific joint U.S.-Canadian effort for guns in the Toronto area, seized 106 firearms, 1,700 rounds of ammunition, 51 pounds of methamphetamine, 2 pounds of fentanyl, 688 suspected fentanyl pills, 3 pounds of cocaine, 197 grams of heroin, 877 opioid pills, 280 grams of psilocybin, $63,332 in Canadian currency and $4,689 in U.S. currency.
The operation fighting the smuggling of guns into Mexico, Operation Without a Trace, opened 312 investigations, made 356 criminal arrests, and seized 2,918 firearms, 8,118 ammunition magazines and 829,826 rounds of ammunition.