Dec. 23 (UPI) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers usually are good at sniffing out contraband, but agents at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport probably had an easier time than normal during a recent discovery.
Agents at the airport recently discovered a shipment of herbs infected with harmful stinkbugs, the CBP said Friday.
“Several discoveries of this pest have taken place in the United States, including San Francisco Airport in 2014, but this was the first in a Dallas port of entry,” CBP said in a press release Friday.
According to CBP, stinkbugs can be dangerous to plants and by extension, crops.
Dallas Port Director Jayson Ahern said agricultural specialists “were able to detect this tiny, destructive pest hidden amongst packages of herbs.”
Ahern said specialists “prevent dangerous pests, and plant and animal diseases from entering the U.S. and wreaking havoc on agriculture.”
“This type of bug belongs to the Pentatomidae family of insects and lives mainly on the juices of plants,” the CBP said. “The pest ejects a rank odor secreted from pores in the thorax when disturbed.”
