U.S. Customs have been hard at work in the month of March.
We thought that we would bring you today a few of the more interesting stories that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have reported on.
1. Unacceptable children bags
Cute children’s backpacks and lunch bags were seized at Houston Port after testing confirmed unacceptable levels of lead. The bags which arrived into Houston from China were sent over two separate shipments. 1500 children’s backpacks and 4000 lunch bags were examined, with laboratory testing confirming lead levels in the metal zippers ranging from 900 parts per million to 15,000 parts per million. The lead content threshold level under the Federal Hazardous Substance Act is 100 parts per million.
Cute bags .. complete with lead zippers
2. Stolen Benz
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Galveston Port, Texas noticed that the VIN number located on the door of this 2012 Mercedes Benz appeared to have been altered. The car was due to be exported at the end of February. The officers discovered that this luxury car, worth more than USD37,000, was stolen from New Jersey and was headed for a one-way trip out of America!
3. Pineapple shipment host to termites
U.S. Border and Protection officers from Philadelphia intercepted 20 live specimens of termites that hitched a ride in a shipping container of pineapples from the Dominican Republic.
The termites were identified as a species from the drywood termite family that come from the West Indie. They were hiding out in the timber packaging used to secure the pineapples.
CBP agriculture specialists captured 43 Isoptera (termite) specimens from the shipment.
Do you have a Customs seizure or story for us? Comment below..
