see also: in August 2007 News Releases:   Border Patrol Agents Seize Drugs at California Checkpoint   Palm Beach, Fla. Welcomes New Tool in Fighting Terror Weapons   Drug Seizure Activity at Border Ports Remains Brisk; El Paso CBP Nabs More Than 2 Tons of Pot   Yuma Border Agents Help Local Police Track 3 Fleeing Burglary Scene   CBP Officers at Laredo, Texas Entry Seize Almost $6 Million in Drugs in Two Seizures   Suspected Smuggling Lookouts Captured in Desert   1st Director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Northwest Retires ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers on the web:   APHIS

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Miami – CBP agriculture specialists were conducting an inspection of a cargo container with a shipment of tiles from Spain, when they discovered an adult Eurygaster sp, .better known as a Sunn Pest, inside the container arriving at the Port of Miami.

The pest was captured by a CBP agriculture specialist July 24 and sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Miami Inspection Station. Scientists there identified the pest as an adult Sunn Pest. The container with its contents was safeguarded and transported to a USDA quarantine station for treatment.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for ensuring that no intruders enter the United States undetected, including intruders that threaten U.S. agriculture.

The Sunn Pest is well known as a serious limiting factor for production of wheat grain from southern Europe and North Africa to eastern Europe and the Near and Middle East. Insect-damaged wheat contains a protease enzyme, which degrades the gluten protein and causes rapid relaxation of dough and results in the production of bread with poor volume and texture.

“Wheat is one of the world’s staple crops and if there are major crop failures of wheat it could spell economic and political chaos,” said Harold Woodward, CBP Miami field office director. “The Sunn Pest has the potential to inflict such crop failures. CBP is dedicated in protecting America’s agricultural and environmental resources from the introduction of foreign plant pests and animal diseases.”

As the frontline border agency of the Department of Homeland Security, preventing acts of terrorism is the primary, but not the only mission of Customs and Border Protection. One of CBP’s major duties is to safeguard American agriculture and the nation’s economy by inspecting ships, airplanes, vehicles, cargo, passengers and their baggage for prohibited agricultural products that may serve as carriers for pests and disease.

For more information on this and other pests visit ( APHIS )

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control, and protection of our Nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.