Normally investigated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, individuals frequently face investigations for export control crime in one of three situations:

  1. Shipping something illegal — such as the suspected shipping of narcotics or other illegal items.
  2. Shipping without a proper permit — as when happens if a person ships an item, like alcohol or firearms, without the proper authorization from the government.
  3. Shipping to prohibited country. The US government has prohibited US citizens and businesses from shipping items to different countries for a variety of reasons.