CINCINNATI — As the holidays approach, the Port of Cincinnati will handle up to 250,000 shipments per night from around the world.

There are 25 U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents working every night to ensure what comes into the country is legal.

Acting Chief Jeremy Clark said teams are using logistics to determine which packages can be pulled for further examination to find counterfeit drugs, guns and items that will flood in December as shoppers purchase online gifts.

“We’re here to find the proverbial needle in a haystack,” Clark said.

Clark spoke with WCPO surrounded by counterfeit items they had pulled from the line the previous nights. The items surrounding him were marked Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Hermès and were quite convincing at first glance.

“Some differences are not visible to the naked eye, but when you touch, when you feel, you can feel the quality,” he said.

Fake perfumes that would cost $100 in a department store sat on the table, surrounded by whistling belts moving the packages through the establishment. Gold necklaces in cheap packaging sat next to the bottles, and a fake Apple Watch and fake Motorola communications devices sat on the table nearby.

Customs officials reported seizing $162,748,661 worth of counterfeit items between October 2023 and October 2024.

Clark warned that counterfeiting could have worse consequences than causing consumers to lose money.

He cited the example of Halloween contact lenses that injured people’s eyes on a table, as well as counterfeit Botox — a highly toxic material used in injections — next to them.

Port Director Eric Zizelman showed WCPO a variety of drugs seized in a single shipment, ranging from amoxicillin to Xanax-like drugs.

“All of this came in the same shipment,” Zizelman said. “Something’s wrong here, isn’t there?”

Clark said counterfeit watches can cause people to lose money, counterfeit drugs can make people sick and profits often make criminals rich.

“The profits from these goods were used to support international criminal organizations involved in human trafficking, terrorism and drug trafficking,” he said.

Customs officials said the port seized 9,553 pounds of narcotics between October 2023 and October 2024, including more than 55 pounds of heroin, 1,205 pounds of cocaine and 1,801 pounds of methamphetamine.

Shipping methods have changed, according to Clark.

Some banned products are sent to the United States in what are called “master cartons.” Clark showed WCPO one such shipment containing dozens of prepackaged and labeled packets of testosterone-based steroids.

WCPO

Shippers plan to have someone in the United States pick up the packages and drop them in the mail separating them from the original sender, making it more difficult for investigators to trace the illegal items back to their destination. origin.

Some of the shipments reported in the system are likely drugs, but need to be tested in a small lab via the Gemini machine.

CBP officials brought a bag of bronzer to the lab for testing during the WCPO visit.

Clark said the powder was a chemical that, if not intercepted, would then be combined with reagents to make synthetic marijuana.

“Now the trend in narcotics is that parts of the narcotics shipped to the United States are manufactured and completed here,” he said.

WCPO

Clark said criminals are getting smarter about ways to bring contraband into the United States. It is therefore up to CBP officers to adapt, learn and counter these efforts.

“We have the ability, and a unique ability, to directly impact our communities. We have the ability to target and prevent illicit goods from entering our country,” he said.

Clark said part of the responsibility falls on the consumer to prevent counterfeit items from arriving at their doorstep.

He said any deal that seems too good to be true probably is, and it’s important to check the credibility of websites before clicking the buy button. He said simple checks are valid physical addresses and phone numbers where customer support can be contacted.