In September, CBP intercepted several shipping containers packed with stolen vehicles headed for the United Arab Emirates. The bust sent the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office to a local chop shop holding even more cars and 274 Florida title certificates. This operation may be massive.

Here’s what CBP first seized:

• 2024 Chevrolet Tahoe
• 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe
• 2016 Hyundai Sonata
• 2017 Hyundai Sonata

Officers also found four unmanifested engines. Investigators later tied the engines to four additional stolen vehicles.

How the investigation expanded

Sheriff’s deputies raided Shine Motors, the registered owner of the containers. The police reported at least $214,000 in stolen property. They also found 274 title certificates that had never been transferred to the business, possibly because the cars had already been exported.

Deputies arrested Roohullah Abdul-Rauof, 47, owner of Shine Motors. His charges include eight counts of dealing in stolen property, four counts of grand theft, eight counts of grand theft of a vehicle, four counts of fraudulently obtaining a vehicle title or registration, 274 counts of transferring a vehicle title with no purchaser name, 20 counts of selling or transporting a vehicle without a title or with a false title, and one count of owning, operating, or aiding and abetting a chop shop.

Abdul-Rauof lives in Doral, Florida, and is a citizen of Afghanistan. His attorney asked for a reasonable bond. He argued Abdul-Rauof only ships cars for his customers. He added the immigrant isn’t a flight risk because he has lived in the U.S. since 2016. The judge ordered Abdul-Rauof to surrender his passport and set bail at $145,500.