US Customs and Border Safety
The stay snails have been found by US Customs and Border Safety at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after a passenger arrived from Ghana.
CNN
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Ninety big African snails have been confiscated by US Customs and Border Safety on the Detroit Metropolitan Airport late final month, the company mentioned in a information launch Tuesday.
An “odd odor” coming from a passenger’s bag tipped off agriculture specialists, officers mentioned within the launch. The passenger, who was arriving from the West African nation of Ghana, was stopped for secondary investigation after declaring contemporary meals gadgets.
Earlier than opening the bag, the passenger declared different prohibited gadgets, together with beef pores and skin and contemporary peppers, however made no point out of the enormous snails, officers mentioned.
The African snails – ranging from 3 to six inches lengthy – have been subsequently seized, in line with customs brokers, who believed the snails have been supposed to be eaten.
The slimy gastropods can develop as much as 8 inches and are thought of an invasive species that “might negatively impression our economic system,” mentioned Performing Port Director John Nowak, in accordance to the Tuesday launch.
The snails eat a minimum of 500 various kinds of crops and might even eat plaster and stucco off homes as a supply of calcium, CNN beforehand reported.
They’ll additionally pose critical well being dangers to people, as they’re recognized to hold the parasite rat lungworm, which may cause meningitis, says the US Division of Agriculture.
This isn’t the primary time big African snails have been confiscated on the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. In 2023, stay snails have been discovered within the suitcase of a traveler who had additionally arrived from Ghana.
