CBP officers confiscate live contraband
CBP Agriculture Specialists found something unusual while examining an air mail shipment declared as "earphones" arriving from Malaysia. When they opened the box, they discovered 26 vials containing live centipedes concealed in earphone cases.
The CBP officers had already intercepted a shipment arriving from Hong Kong with 13 kg of dried sea cucumbers declared as "dried food". They also discovered over 25 kg of noodles with ruminant ingredient and pork sausage products manifested as "packaging box."
What do these four shipments have in common? They lacked the required official permits or certificates. These violations are a less-known form of contraband arriving every day from overseas in ocean containers and postal and express air mail to destinations all over the United States. (cj)