Flyers on DeltaDAL Air Lines had to return to Amsterdam after maggots rained down from rotten fish wrapped in a bag in the overhead bin. Despite being unpleasant and disruptive for all, rotting fish isn’t the weirdest item passengers have brought on planes.
The United States Department of Customs and Border Protection has seen more than its fair share of smuggled items from U.S.-bound flights. While CBP screens international travelers and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, and counterfeit consumer goods, they also look for invasive weeds, pests, and other illegal animal products.
Agriculture specialists at CBP have extensive training and experience in biological sciences and agricultural inspection. Each day, they examine international trade shipments and traveler baggage for invasive insects, noxious weeds, and plant and animal diseases that could harm the U.S. food supply.
During an average day, CBP agriculture specialists seized 2,677 prohibited plants, meat, animal byproducts, and soil last year at U.S. ports of entry. They also intercepted 240 insect pests, which could threaten agriculture.
Passengers smuggling endangered wildlife have also been a concern for airlines. The aviation community and the International Air Transport Association are battling this nefarious trade.
Two hours after departing Amsterdam, Delta Air Lines flight 133 to Detroit had to turn around when maggots fell from the overhead bins, landing on passengers below. Airline cabin crew identified the source as rotting fish in a passenger’s carry-on bag.
âThe aircraft returned to the gate, and passengers were placed on the next available flight. The aircraft was removed from service for cleaning,â Delta said in a statement to The Independent regarding the incident.
In the end, the bag containing the rotten fish was destroyed. Nevertheless, some bizarre items packed by passengers have made it to the U.S., where Customs and Border Patrol seize them.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection foiled an attempt to smuggle four dead and dehydrated monkeys at Logan Airport in January. Returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the would-be smuggler was unaware of CBP’s sharp noses. It is routine for CBP’s K9 units, which include Buddey, the alert dog who found the mummified monkeys, to sniff out any suspicious items in passenger bags. Using his keen sense of smell, Buddey led his handler towards luggage from Delta flight 225.
Initially, the passenger claimed the bag contained only dried fish. The X-ray and subsequent physical inspection revealed the grim truth: the dried remains of four monkeys. Importing âbushmeatââraw or barely processed meat from wild animals such as bats, monkeys, and cane ratsâposes a significant disease risk and is prohibited in the U.S.
âThe potential dangers posed by bringing bushmeat into the United States are real,â said Julio Caravia, Area Port Director, CBP Boston, in a statement. âBushmeat can carry germs that can cause illness, including the Ebola virus. The work of CBPâs K9 unit and Agricultural Specialist were vital in preventing this potential danger from entering the U.S.â
After contacting the Center for Disease Control, CBP instructed Delta Air Lines to destroy or return the baggage to France. The four kilograms of monkey bushmeat were destroyed.
While these two odd recent incidents involved Delta flights, the airline is hardly alone. Passengers flying to the U.S. on all airlines around the world could potentially be hiding something unpleasant.
CBP agriculture specialists seized two live birds from a woman arriving from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on July 16 of last year. Birds can carry highly contagious diseases affecting poultry, like the virulent Newcastle disease and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.
The airline had notified CBP that their passenger was transporting the birds on the flight in an open cardboard box inside a plastic bag. The woman, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Iraq, had sneaked the birds onto the plane without telling the gate attendants.
Agricultural specialists met the flight as it arrived, secured the birds in a filtered crate, and transported them to CBP’s agriculture quarantine inspections lab. U.S. Department of Agricultureâs (USDA) Veterinary Services identified the birds as baby White-eared Bulbuls, which are not a protected or endangered species. Still, the traveler did not have veterinary certifications to export the birds from Iraq or import them to the United States.
CBP agriculture specialists also inspected the woman’s baggage, discovered and seized prohibited chicken seasoning and wooden sticks. CBP ultimately released the traveler to continue her journey, and the USDA took custody of the baby birds.
At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agriculture Specialists inspected the baggage of 23,000 passengers last year and found over 14,000 prohibited items. This includes pork, beef, avian products, plants, plant materials, seeds for planting, and fruit.
Agriculture specialists have found handicrafts, grain, and fruits potentially infested with invasive insects. They even found giraffe feces intended for jewelry.
Some meats and meat products can carry Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, African Swine Fever, Classical Swine Fever, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, and Foot and Mouth Disease.
âOur nation’s food supply is constantly at risk to diseases not known to occur in the United States,â said LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, Director, Field Operations, Chicago Field Office, in a CBP statement.
CBP charged passengers over $245,000 in penalties for carrying undeclared and prohibited items to the U.S. CBPAS also filed over 150 Emergency Action Notifications for cargo shipments containing prohibited items.
While the rotten fish on Delta Air Lines flight this past week may have been a bizarre misunderstanding over what items are allowed in carry-on bags, passenger smuggling of animal products is not always innocent.
Transnational criminal groups exploit the air transport system to trade wildlife illegally. As the International Air Transport Association reports, international illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth between $7 billion and $23 billion annually. It is the fourth largest illegal global trade after drugs, counterfeiting, and human trafficking.
This trade threatens many endangered speciesâincluding tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, and pangolins. According to the World Wildlife Fund, over a million Asian and African pangolins have been captured by poachers over the past decade and shipped to China and Vietnam, where their meat is considered a delicacy. Their scales are also used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Airlines and airports are tackling this trade head-on. The scale of smuggling of bushmeat, like the mummified monkeys discovered by Buddeyâs sharp nose at Logan Aiport, is challenging to measure. However, IATA reports that surveys conducted at four European airports and seizure statistics from the U.S. suggest that hundreds of tonnes are imported illegally in passenger baggage each year. Although not all concealed bushmeat comes from protected species, it is often poorly preserved and unsanitary.
Trafficking in wildlife depends on an interconnected logistics and transport network involving airlines, ports, shipping companies, express couriers, postal services, and freight forwarders. This high-value trade poses a secondary threat to aviation security due to its potentially corrupt influence on officials and aviation employees.
Capturing and prosecuting these criminals is up to national enforcement authorities, but airline staff are an essential source of intelligence on the trade. IATA works with other stakeholders in the aviation industry to support enforcement agencies.ââââ
At the 2016 IATA Annual General Meeting, members endorsed a resolution denouncing the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products. They pledged to partner with government authorities and conservation organizations to fight against the trafficking of protected species.
The airline association is also among the signatories to the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration, which aims to reduce the illegal trade of wildlife. Aviation stakeholders, including 79 airlines, have signed up to help break the chain between endangered wildlife suppliers and consumers.
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