Federal border authorities have seized from a Minneapolis warehouse nearly 2,500 tire rims allegedly imported illegally from Asia that would have posed a safety hazard if used on motorized vehicles.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Wednesday announced the confiscation of the steel rims, which were shipped from Thailand and delivered by rail to an undisclosed warehouse.
Border agents inspected the 20 pallets holding 2,446 rims in a rail car on Monday and were notified that their shipment lacked the approval of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
NHTSA determined that the company is not a registered manufacturer, and the rims were inadmissible, according to the Customs and Border Protection announcement.
"It would be unsafe for anyone to use" the rims, because they "didn't meet NHTSA requirements," said CBP spokesman Steve Bansbach.
Bansbach declined to disclose where the seizure occurred in Minneapolis or to identify whose warehouse received the shipment, which his agency valued on the retail market at more than $47,500.
"CBP is focused on identifying and intercepting unsafe merchandise and products," Augustine Moore, the agency's Minneapolis port director, said in a statement.
