US seizes $3.2million worth of cars in Venezuela smuggling ring

'This is all part of an ongoing effort to combat foreign public corruption'

An official with Homeland Security Investigations walks among vehicles worth an estimated $3.2 million, at Port Everglades after they were seized by Homeland Security Investigations, Wednesday, July 8, 2020, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP)

US authorities seized 81 vehicles worth an estimated $3.2 million that they say were headed to Venezuela, violating US export laws as well as sanctions against the socialist nation.

Federal officials said on Wednesday that the seized vehicles were part of a smuggling operation to benefit wealthy and connected people associated with Nicolas Maduro regime.

“This is all part of an ongoing effort to combat foreign public corruption and in particular for public corruption in Venezuela and the laundering and the fleecing of the Venezuelan people’s wealth and the stealing of the Venezuelan wealth from the national treasury for the gain of a few politically exploited, exposed people, kleptocrats and their associates,” said Chief of the Miami Homeland Security Investigations office Anthony Salisbury.

Salisbury added that many of the vehicles were linked to Venezuelans under US indictments, such as Raul Gorrin, a regime-connected billionaire accused of being behind a graft network that used fraudulent currency deals with Venezuela's oil monopoly to steal $2.4 billion from the Venezuelan state.

The vehicles were displayed on Wednesday by federal investigators in Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. Images show many of the vehicles are equipped with police packages, such as flashing lights and sirens.

The seized vehicles include a Mercedes Biturbo SUV worth $150,000, a black Lexus SUV with police sirens and lights worth $86,000 and some low-end cars, such as a Toyota Corolla valued at $20,000, the Miami Herald reported.

According to Salisbury, the seize is "just the tip of the iceberg or a drop in the bucket for what we’ve started to identify for this illegal exploitation scam.”

As of Thursday, no charges have been filed in connection to the siege.

Since 2017 US authorities have seized more than $450 million from banks accounts as well as luxury properties, yachts and watches they say were bought with laundered money stolen from the Venezuelan state.