9 Arrested in Connection With Alleged Export Ring
By Candace Rondeaux
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Authorities staged three raids in suburban Maryland yesterday in an effort to break up a major East Coast car-theft ring that allegedly stole more than 1,000 luxury vehicles in the past year and shipped them to West Africa and the Middle East.
Mercedes with high-end stereos, BMWs with slick leather interiors, Hummers with shiny rims -- all were taken from dealerships and suburban driveways, carjacked off the street or stolen by other means in the Washington area, New York and New Jersey. They were packed onto container ships docked at New Jersey ports and shipped abroad, authorities said.
The investigation led to the arrest last week of Upper Marlboro resident Solomon O. Asare, 31, a native of Ghana who is described by authorities as a ringleader. Eight others have also been arrested, including a Gaithersburg man who was taken into custody Friday at Dulles International Airport. They were detained on a variety of charges linking them to the alleged conspiracy with tendrils in Prince George's, Howard and Montgomery counties and Northern Virginia.
"This is the largest auto-theft fencing ring I've seen since I've been on the force," said Lt. Rick Nuel, a 22-year veteran and chief of the auto unit with the New Jersey State Police, one of 16 agencies involved in the probe. "When you're looking at the amount of cars going out and the amount of contacts they had, it's huge."
In West Africa, where luxury cars are scarce and import taxes are high, the vehicles are resold for up to twice their retail value, netting members of the elaborate theft-for-export ring millions of dollars. In some instances, authorities said, the stolen vehicles have wound up in the hands of power elites in Ghana and elsewhere.
"Sometimes, it's almost chic," said Ben Jillett, a car-theft investigator with the Insurance Bureau of Canada, who has worked with federal and local authorities in the United States to track similar rings. "It's in vogue to run around in these countries with a license plate on that says Maryland on it or Florida on it."
The alleged ring was first detected by Prince George's investigators about a year ago, according to a law enforcement source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The county has for years ranked among the top jurisdictions in the nation for car theft, and it accounts for more than half the vehicle thefts in the state each year.
In some respects, the alleged ring embodied the hierarchy of a large, legitimate business. Middlemen known as fences acted as brokers between the car thieves and ringleaders. The ringleaders arranged large-scale shipments to ports in Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and several other countries, authorities said.
Last week, New Jersey authorities arrested Asare and another man in a stolen car on the New Jersey Turnpike, police said. Investigators have alleged that Asare used his connections in New York, New Jersey and abroad to arrange shipments of stolen cars and to smooth the way for sales abroad by bribing customs officials in Africa.
Investigators found $11,000 in the car, money that they believe was to be used to purchase stolen vehicles, according to New Jersey State Police. Asare was charged in New Jersey with trafficking, fencing and receiving stolen property and could face charges in Maryland, Nuel said.
"If you have the contacts, there's a lot of money to be made, and he seemed to have a lot of contacts in Africa," Nuel said.
About 6:30 a.m. yesterday, a team of Maryland State Police and at least one federal agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended on Asare's well-kept brick colonial home in the 10600 block of Birdie Lane in Upper Marlboro. The normal calm and quiet of the solidly middle-class suburban subdivision was broken by the sound of two officers pounding on Asare's door.
Hearing no answer, officers in flak jackets slipped past a shiny black 2005 Nissan Maxima parked in the driveway. They pried open the home's garage door, entering with their guns drawn. An officer at the scene said they expected to spend several hours collecting evidence.
Investigators also raided a commercial lot and an unknown location in Howard County.
Investigators are reluctant to estimate how long the ring operated or how many luxury cars allegedly passed through Asare's network to ports in Africa. But Nuel said 72 stolen vehicles worth about $2.7 million were recovered by police in New Jersey last week -- including several stolen from Maryland. Investigators believe, however, that that number represents only a fraction of the car ring's actual take.
"The [car] fencing operation is becoming a huge issue in the African countries," said Greg Terp, commander of the Miami-Dade police auto-theft unit. "It's a lucrative business. And, according to some of the information we've learned, you have a number of people in the various governments there driving BMWs and Mercedes that are stolen and shipped out of the Port of Elizabeth and Newark."
Investigators believe Asare traveled with at least two other men from the Washington area to West Africa on errands for the ring, the law enforcement source said. One of the men, Vincent Robinson, is allegedly linked to the theft of more than 30 brand-new, high-end vehicles from dealerships in Fairfax, Montgomery and Baltimore counties, the source said.
Fairfax Detective John Carney declined to discuss details of Robinson's case or his possible connections to the ring. But he confirmed that Robinson allegedly gained access to keys to the cars after he was hired at several local dealerships, including at least one in Fairfax. Police there took Robinson into custody June 1 on charges of auto theft, Carney said.
On Friday, authorities also arrested Macki Tall of Gaithersburg at Dulles International Airport after he returned from Switzerland. Like Asare, Tall, 27, allegedly used connections in Africa to arrange the shipment and sale of stolen cars, Nuel said. Tall is believed to have purchased many of the stolen vehicles in East Orange, N.J.
Nuel said more arrests are expected in the Washington area and elsewhere.
Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.
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