{"id":21145,"date":"2014-03-07T17:25:16","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T22:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=21145"},"modified":"2014-03-07T17:26:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-07T22:26:00","slug":"federal-agents-package-labels-belie-illicit-contents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=21145","title":{"rendered":"Federal agents: Package labels belie illicit contents"},"content":{"rendered":"

CBP officers reportedly busy intercepting large amount of contraband\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
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\"Packages<\/a>

Packages containing khat get intercepted by federal agents at the international express courier facility near Philadelphia International Airport on Friday, March 7. Photo courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Among CPB officers\u2019 tasks is examining incoming international parcels to hunt for a wide variety of prohibited and illicit products, such as weapons, narcotics, currency, insects and food, a CBP news release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that U.S. consumers will attempt to purchase products they know to be illicit or illegal from overseas sources through the internet. Our best advice to them is caveat emptor, buyer beware,\u201d said Tarance Drafts, acting CBP Port Director for the Port of Philadelphia. \u201cInspecting international parcels for dangerous and illicit products remains a Customs and Border Protection enforcement priority. There\u2019s a great chance we\u2019ll get our hands on your purchase before you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seizures started Feb. 27 when CBP officers intercepted a parcel manifested as \u201cAdidas junior bags\u201d destined for Cromwell, Conn. Officers X-rayed the parcel and detected an anomaly that proved to be 24 pounds, 4 ounces of khat. CBP officers then made two more khat seizures Wednesday, March 5; one weighed 22 pounds, 3 ounces and was in a parcel manifested as \u201cdocument procedures\u201d destined for Skokie, Ill. The second parcel, labeled \u201creports,\u201d contained 15 pounds, 14 ounces of khat bound for West Dundee, Ill., the release said.<\/p>\n

CBP officers also seized the codeine tablets Wednesday in a parcel identified as \u201csamples\u201d headed to Rochester, Minn. The next day, CBP officers made two additional khat seizures. The first, 23 pounds, 9 ounces, was in a parcel manifested as \u201cmobile phone accessories\u201d with a Minneapolis address. The second, 16 pounds, 12 ounces, was in a parcel labeled \u201cproject development group report\u201d and destined for Skokie, Ill. Also on Thursday, March 6, a parcel containing steroids: 10 vials of 10 ml each of Decatest 350 and six vials of 10 ml each of Megabol 275. The parcel was manifested as \u201cNon Documents Amino Methyl Propanal\u201d and destined for Everett, Mass., the release said.<\/p>\n

In the largest seizure this week, CBP officers seized 46 pounds, 15 ounces of khat on Friday, March 7, that arrived in a parcel masquerading as \u201cdecorative artistic handicrafts\u201d and destined for Riverwoods, Ill., the release said.<\/p>\n

The 150 combined pounds of khat, classified by the World Health Organization as a drug of abuse in 1980, has a street value of about $45,000.The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies khat as a schedule 1 narcotic when the leaves are freshly picked. Its principal components, cathine and cathinone, are considered controlled substances in the U.S., the release said.<\/p>\n

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CBP officers reportedly busy intercepting large amount of contraband\u00a0 Among CPB officers\u2019 tasks is examining incoming international parcels to hunt for a wide variety of prohibited and illicit products, such as weapons, narcotics, currency, insects and food, a CBP news release said. \u201cWe know that U.S. consumers will attempt to purchase products they know to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,317],"tags":[3230,4824,4477],"class_list":["post-21145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-region","tag-drug-enforcement-administration-dea","tag-u-s-customs-and-border-protection-cbp","tag-world-health-organization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}