Hundreds of live larvae found in shipment of fake flowers at airport, officials say
A bundle of flowers in a package shipped to the U.S. was fake — but hundreds of “pests” that came with it weren’t, officials said.
An inspection of the shipment from Kenya revealed live insect larvae hidden among the plastic flowers that arrived May 3 at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s mail facility in New York City, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The agency’s agriculture specialists counted 630 insect larvae living inside the package, officials announced in a May 18 news release.
Inspectors seized the shipment for violating U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations, according to the release.
The shipment was “safeguarded” to stop insect larvae from spreading beyond the flowers, officials said.
Agency agricultural specialists “ensure that the United States is safe from harmful pests entering our country that could potentially cause grave damage to our agricultural and economic vitality,” Francis J. Russo, the agency’s director of field operations for its New York field office, said in a statement.
At JFK airport, about 4,500 pests and nearly 28,000 agriculture items have been found in shipments to date, according to the agency.
Despite their small size, pests from outside the U.S. can cause big problems by delaying global trade and can negatively harm the country’s economy and food supply, officials said.
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