CBP Seizes Baskets Made From Prohibited Plant

| 2/21/2013

Courtesy CBP

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have intercepted nearly a thousand baskets made from a prohibited plant. Agriculture specialists with the CBP discovered a rail container with 990 willow baskets at the rail facility in International Falls on February 8.

According to the CBP, the willow the baskets are made out of is prohibited from various countries because of a risk of spreading plant disease and pests. While the material was relatively dry, the CBP says that sprouting buds and flexible tissue were found, which makes it capable of propagation.

The baskets were being shipped from China via Canada and were supposed to go to New York and Indiana.

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