U.S. border agents in Minnesota spotted and seized a million-dollar shipment of over 100,000 illegal Chinese vape products destined to a California nicotine wholesaler.

A woman exhales smoke while vaping in NYC in 2019. Authorities announced Monday that they recently seized pallets filled with illegal e-cig items in violation of federal law. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI UPI

Sept. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. border agents in Minnesota spotted and seized a million-dollar shipment of more than 100,000 illegal Chinese vape products destined to a California nicotine wholesaler.

On Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area recently uncovered and later took control over scores of pallets that contained vaping items, including some 90,000 illicit Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems products and 75,000 refill cartridges.

"The excellent intelligence sharing helped our officers identify and intercept these shipments that could potentially harm the health and wellbeing of people within our communities," according to LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, field operations director at CBP's Chicago office.

Federal officials stated the shipment containing roughly 165,000 illegal nicotine vape products and violated federal law under the FDA's Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Authorities seized the pallets in alleged violation of the FD&C Act and due to a perceived "lack of required FDA marketing authorization," adding the tobacco products were found to be "adulterated" and "misbranded."

Experts suggested the shipments transferring vaping flavors such Blue Razz, Iced Lush, Blue Lightning, Gum Mint, Turkish Tobacco and Classic Tobacco held a total estimated retail value of at least $1.47 million.

The successful sting started by field intelligence gathered by local CBP officers in Chicago, according tot border officials in Illinois.

Federal officials pointed to last month's sting, it's biggest to date, of nearly $90 million worth in estimated illegal e-cigarette items. They added how recent joint actions with the FDA resulted in more than 2 million seized product from five distributers and six retailers in seven different U.S. states.

On Monday, Chicago's Sutton-Burke stated that the "trade enforcement mission" of America's border agency places a "significant emphasis on intercepting illicit products," she said in a statement.

The CBP's Chicago field ops chief added that officials will "continue to work with our consumer product safety partners to identify and seize unsafe and illicit goods."