The US Customs and Border Protection confiscated 15 potentially dangerous and damaging giant snails at Houston airport earlier in the month.
The giant snails, also known as banana rasp snails were discovered in a passenger’s luggage. She was traveling to George Bush International Airport from Nigeria.
CBS News reports that the passenger “initially only declared that she had brought dried beef with her, but later added the snails to her declaration, CBP said.”
The snails definitely live up to their name as they can grow up to around the size of an adult’s fist. (The snails measure around 8 inches in length and 5 inches in diameter.)
While inspecting the passenger’s bags, agriculture specialists came across three plastic bags that had the live giant snails along with leaves and a small amount of dried beef.
The snails can be very dangerous and “are capable of causing rare forms of meningitis in humans“. They can also be damaging to the environment by “negatively affecting agriculture and ecosystems.”
Good thing the CBP caught this potentially dangerous cargo…
Find out more from CBS News here.
Ric- I haven’t a clue. Maybe you can contact CBP and report back to us?
So how did they dispose of said snails?
A shoe?
Steamed into an appetizer?
Houston Zoo ?
Billy Bob- Who knows!
They are a source of poison that cannot be traced. The victim is found to have died of a heart attack or previously unknown heart ailment.
Wonder who this woman was and/or what she had planned.