Texas City is a busy deep water Gulf Coast seaport. While we may never know how the truck got to Syria, it is possible that the vehicle was stolen from a used car lot or other subsequent owner and then sent to the Middle East in a shipping container.

Older vehicles are likelier to be stolen because they lack anti-theft electronic keying systems. It’s wise to install anti-theft mechanisms on any work truck that carries advertising decals and insignia, and to remove or paint over these insignia before disposing of the vehicle.

BizPac Review: Shocked Texas plumber’s former work truck shows up in jihad terror mission photo; his phone blows up

(h/t: Grumpy Elder)

It doesn’t always pay to advertise.

That’s what a Texas plumber is learning after getting barraged with threats from people who’ve seen a Ford truck he used to own show up in a picture posted on Twitter by an Islamist militant group — fighting in Syria!

Mark Oberholtzer, the longtime owner/operator of Mark-1 Plumbing in Texas City, told the Galveston Daily News he doesn’t have a clue how his old truck ended up in Syria. But he wishes it hadn’t – particularly with the distinctive “Mark-1 Plumbing” decal on the driver’s side a door and an anti-aircraft gun blazing away in the bed.

He said he sold the truck three years ago, and expected the decals would have been removed by the dealer.

AutoNation told KHOU-TV that the truck would have likely been sold at auction and would have changed owners multiple times before ending up in Syria.

“How it ended up in Syria, I’ll never know,” he told the Daily News.

The phone calls started Monday, he said. By the next day, more than a 1,000 calls and faxes had come in, he said – some of them threatening.

“A few of the people are really ugly,” Oberholtzer said.

Oberholtzer’s son, Jeff, was amazed by the turn of events.

“To think something we would use to pull trailers, now is being used for terror, it’s crazy,” he told KHOU. “Never in my lifetime would think something like that.”

Seriously, who would?

More here.

Not every vehicle shipped overseas is stolen. But too many of them are:

• Penticton Western News: Cars stolen from Penticton Toyota likely headed overseas
• nj.com: Illicit cargo: Why are more stolen cars disappearing overseas?
• AllGov California: Auto Thieves Love California and Aren’t Picky about the Cities They Hit Hardest
• notfea.org: Foreign Destinations For Stolen Canadian Cars
• Lake View Patch: Chicago Chop Shop Busted by Cops May Have Shipped Parts Overseas
• cliffviewpilot.com: New Jersey State Police ‘Operation Jacked’ takes down international stolen car trafficking ring
• Orange County Register: Man to be reunited with stolen Jaguar after 46 years