My father was very, very proud of this seizure, and rightly so. One of the highlights of his 20-year US Customs career was a series of seizures he made in 1981 of counterfeit goods (especially watches) from Asia being shipped to Tijuana and then to San Diego. This is when counterfeiting was just starting to make its mark.
Documented in Time Magazine, his seizure also made the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. It was the last story before sign off. I remember Dan Rather saying “C’est la vie!,” closing the newscast.
As a US Customs officer he (legally) couldn’t accept gifts from Cartier, but they owed him. You know, just a little wrist bling to lounge around wearing. Looking at the pile of counterfeit watches being steamrolled, someone from Switzerland should have sent him a Swatch for his trouble after he retired. Just sayin’!
Read what Time magazine had to say below.