Decius wrote:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of International Trade announced today that the domestic value of counterfeit and pirated products seized by CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement increased by 2.7 percent in mid-fiscal year 2008 to $113.2 million compared to $110.1 million in mid-FY 2007.

The number of large-scale seizures also increased: rising from 296 IPR seizures with a domestic value equal to or greater than $100,000 in 2008 compared to 266 such seizures in mid-FY 2007. The first half of the fiscal year extends from Oct. 1 to March 28.

If you are looking for the general financial motivation for our customs search policies...

That's an interesting take, and it may be a motivational force (although the dollar amounts don't really impress me in that regard), but I sense that there's something else they're looking for.

RE: CBP Releases Intellectual Property Rights Seizure Statistics for Mid-FY2008