Earlier this month, Chicago Customs and Border Protection officers reported an operation that led to the seizure of almost 4.7 million e-cigarettes with an MSRP of more than $86.5 million.
Then, just last week, the Justice Department, together with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, announced that recent actions targeting unauthorized flavored e-cigarettes, or vapes, resulted in the seizure of more than 2.1 million illicit vaping products taken from five distributors and six retailers across seven different states.
The e-cigarette shipments violated the FDA’s Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, lacking the mandatory premarket authorization orders from the FDA, meaning that they cannot be legally marketed or distributed in the United States.
The crackdown on illicit vaping products in the United States continues, and now Minnesota has made headlines. On Monday, September 29, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis-St. Paul made yet another major announcement.
Shipment Of Unauthorized Vaping Products Seized In Minnesota
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis-St. Paul announced they had recently seized pallets of illicit vaping products for violating the U.S Food and Drug Administration Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. All the shipments originated from China and were destined for a wholesaler in California.
Local CBP officers were reportedly alerted to these shipments from intelligence gathered from the Chicago Field Office. Officers inspected all pallets and discovered Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and refill cartridges. In total, CBP officers seized 90,000 illicit ENDS and 75,000 refill cartridges.
CBP and FDA personnel determined these should be seized for violating the FD&C Act due to the lack of required FDA marketing authorization, and the tobacco products were found to be adulterated and misbranded.
The shipments contained several flavors of unauthorized vaping products, including Blue Razz, Iced Lush, Blue Lightning, Gum Mint, Turkish Tobacco, and Classic Tobacco. The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price would have been more than $1.47 million.
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“The excellent intelligence sharing helped our officers identify and intercept these shipments that could potentially harm the health and well-being of people within our communities,” said LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, Director of Field Operations, Chicago Field Office. Sutton-Burke added that the agency’s trade enforcement mission places a significant emphasis on intercepting illicit products and will continue to work diligently to identify and seize unsafe and illicit goods.