MIDDLESEX TWP — A suspected player in an international luxury car theft ring is supposed to turn himself in to authorities this week on charges he stole two vehicles at a used car lot in the township.

Robert S. Kull Jr., 46, of Buffalo, N.Y., in July allegedly used fraudulent credit cards to buy the high-end vehicles at Twin Willows Auto Sales on Route 8, police said.

The vehicles — a 2013 Jaguar and a 2008 Land Rover — were eventually recovered at a New Jersey port stashed in shipping containers destined for Africa.

Kull is charged with 12 felonies in the investigation that involved the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.

The defendant is to surrender to Middlesex Township police Wednesday at the office of District Judge Sue Haggerty in Saxonburg.

“He’s been fully cooperative in the investigation,” said Patrolman Conrad Pfeifer, who obtained an arrest warrant for Kull last month.

Police said Kull and another man, who is not considered a suspect in the investigation, appeared July 25 at Twin Willows claiming to be partners in a firm that buys vehicles for customers.

Kull used at least one credit card to buy the Land Rover, valued at $12,900.

“The card was initially approved by the (credit card) vendor,” Pfeifer said.

The defendant later that day hired a local towing company to haul the vehicle to his home in Buffalo.

On Aug. 3, according to court documents, Kull and the other man returned to the car lot and bought the Jaguar, valued at $31,400, with one or more credit cards. A different towing company hauled that car to Kull’s home, too.

“(Kull) gave his valid phone number, address, driver’s license and signature both times,” Pfeifer said.

It wasn’t until Aug. 15, police said, that Twin Willows was notified the credit cards Kull used were fraudulent.

John Seibel, owner of the car lot, called Kull and advised him to make good on the purchases or return the vehicles.

“He told (Seibel) that it was too late,” Pfeifer said, “that the cars were probably on a boat to Africa.”

Twin Willows immediately notified U.S. Customs and then contacted Middlesex police.

Pfeifer spoke to Customs officials and entered information about the stolen vehicles into the National Crime Information Center database.

Customs agents eventually tracked down the vehicles in shipping containers at Port Newark in New Jersey. The Jaguar and Land Rover, which were found Sept. 1, were awaiting shipment to Guyana, West Africa.

The vehicles have since been returned to Twin Willows.

Pfeifer said he believes Kull was part of a multi-million-dollar, multistate car smuggling operation.

The crime ring, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s office, stole, fenced and transported luxury vehicles to seaports in New Jersey and New York to African countries including Nigeria Ghana, Guyana and Sierra Leone.

Shippers, who were members of the ring, “completed a bill of landing for the (shipping) container that typically misrepresented the actual contents of the container,” New Jersey prosecutors said in a press release about the car theft ring.

Authorities said West Africa, which has become a hot bed for drug trafficking and the illegal diamond trade, has a burgeoning black market for luxury cars.

Pfeifer did not know Kull’s alleged role in the ring. He said he hopes to find out when he interviews the defendant following Wednesday’s arraignment.

Kull is charged with organized retail theft, conspiracy, access device fraud, theft by deception and receiving stolen property.