U.S. Embassy: Escalades are hot

Two down…three to go. That’s the word from the U.S. Embassy tonight as agents brought down on special assignment are completing their investigation of six vehicles seized by customs on suspicion of being stolen. Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy, Edgar Embrey, told News 5 that an expert investigator has thus far been able to recover the original VIN numbers of two vehicles, both Cadillac Escalades. The big S.U.V.s, belonging to businessman Luke Espat, have been traced to owners in Waco and Brownsville, Texas. Embrey says they are trying to recover the Vehicle Identification Numbers on the two Hummers and one GMC pickup, also in customs custody. That investigation is expected to wrap up sometime next week after which Embrey says a diplomatic note will be sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting that those vehicles identified as stolen be repatriated to the United States. This will be done under the Stolen Vehicles Treaty, which was signed in 1996 and entered into force on August sixteenth, 2002.