"There are people who attempt to bring in more than their own bodyweight of animal flesh - everything from camel chops to cows' nostrils, from loin of leopard to prime rump of rat.
"Earlier this year, for example, a Lagos woman arrived at Heathrow with 16 stones' worth of edible African land snails in her luggage. With a retail price of around £2 per pound, the snails would have earned her nearly £500.
"Instead, they were confiscated and the woman received a £400 fine.
"'Quite often, we're left with the problem of what to do with the foodstuff once we've impounded it,' says Gaiger. 'Where possible, and where health regulations allow, we'll try to ensure it gets made use of. For example, we found some frozen fish at Weymouth Ferry Port that had been used to conceal cannabis - once we'd detached the drugs, we sent the fish on to the local Sea Life Centre, to use as food for their resident animals.'
"Last year, UK Customs officials made 15,316 foodstuff eizures, resulting in a 140,000lb haul of meat and an only slightly smaller amount of fish. They act to stop infections such as swine vesicular fever, bird flu, foot and mouth and meningitis (which the African snails could have been carrying) from entering Britain..."
Re: 16 stone of edilble African land snails in a suitcase - and 140,000 lb. of meat in a year
September 20 2005, 10:32 AM
"Deja vu" springs to mind.
JohnS-MI
Re: 16 stone of edilble African land snails in a suitcase - and 140,000 lb. of meat in a year
September 20 2005, 1:10 PM
Don't your airlines have "overweight luggage" surcharges? Ours have gone back to that method. That charge would probably more than the value of the snails.
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