Probably a legit 85 LR 110.
If someone called it a defender, I doubt many would say it is a wrong description.
Regardless of the name, DHS had a list of VINs that they were looking for. Where did that list come from?
Did some European agency bust an exporter and get the list and pass that along to the DHS? Were the vehicles owned legitimately by the exporter, or were they stolen? If they were stolen, it’s almost a given that the VINs were altered.
Probably a different gang, but this article from 2010 describes what may well have been going on:
Another one (from 2013):
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/10863159.Mystery_of_Bolton_Land_Rover_thefts/
Or this (from 2012):
http://www.swiftcover.com/about/press/most-stolen-car-revealed/