see also: in February 2008:   Marijuana Seized by CBP Officers at San Luis, Ariz. Port   Border Patrol in Tucson Seizes 4 Tons of Marijuana   Arizona Event to Assist Border Patrol Applicants   Departments of Justice and Homeland Security Announce International Initiative Against Traffickers in Counterfeit Network Hardware   Border Patrol Apprehends 62 Illegal Migrants Hiding in Arizona House   CBP Officers in Calif. Find Smuggled Women in Truck Engine Compartment ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Philadelphia – U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists in Philadelphia located and identified a venomous spider and egg sack during a routine inspection of a shipping container in Philadelphia Wednesday.

CBP agriculture specialists found a female Redback Spider and her egg sack on the bottom of a container that arrived on a vessel from Australia. While detained, the Redback Spider eggs hatched over 100 babies. The Redback Spider is potentially dangerous and is native to Australia with neurotoxin venom that is toxic to humans. The spider and babies were eradicated.

CBP agriculture specialists found on the bottom of another container 18 white snails and sent them to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for identification. The snails were identified as a threat to grain or citrus crops and were a quarantined as a significance pest. As a precaution, CBP placed salt around the

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container and issued an Emergency Action Notification to the shipper requiring re-exportation of the container to Australia.

"Our primary focus as CBP agriculture specialists is on protecting America’s agriculture," said Hal Fingerman, CBP assistant port director in Philadelphia. "It is important that we balance our interest in facilitating the free flow of commerce while ensuring that non-indigenous species are not accidentally introduced into our ecology."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection 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.