see also: in June 2007 News Releases:   CBP, ATF Join Canadians in Launching Firearms Public Information Campaign Along U.S.-Canadian Border   Marijuana-Embedded Bricks Crumble at El Paso Port   FDA, CBP Advise of Potential Health Risks from Unpasteurized Cheese After Large Cheese Seizures at Laredo Border   CBP Officers Discover Exotic Birds at California Border Station   U.S., New Zealand Establish Joint Trade Security Arrangement   CBP Reminds Pleasure Boaters of Reporting Requirements When Returning from Foreign Locations   California CBP Officers Find Smuggled Persons in Truck Engine Compartment ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Laredo, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists at the Laredo port of entry so far in June have made significant interceptions of wood-boring insects in pallets in commercial shipments. The discovery of these actionable pests requires that the shipments be returned to Mexico.

Over the first 12 days, CBP agriculture specialists at World Trade Bridge and Colombia-Solidarity Bridge have made 10 interceptions of wood-boring insects and insect larvae in marked solid wood packing materials, more commonly known as pallets. The most common type of insect found was the Arhopalus sp., a wood-boring pest, on four separate occasions at World Trade and Colombia-Solidarity Bridges. One of those interceptions was made in a trailer carrying a shipment of pallets.

“Examining solid wood packing materials to prevent the entry of pests is an integral part of our agriculture specialist’s job in the cargo environment,” said Gene Garza, CBP port director, Laredo. “We would encourage the importing community to ensure that they use chemically or heat treated pallets to avoid possible contamination by wood-boring pests and the costs incurred when infected shipments are exported.”

On each occasion, a shipment was referred for a secondary examination and an examination by a CBP agriculture specialist revealed the presence of live wood-boring insects in pallets that had been stamped with a symbol indicating that they had been fumigated or heat-treated to prevent the introduction of these insects. In each instance, the entry was canceled and the shipment was re-exported to Mexico. These enforcement actions have resulted in the immediate export to Mexico of shipments of decorative stone, auto parts aluminum heads, sanitary fixtures, broccoli and pallets among others.

In addition, CBP agriculture specialists over the same period made nine other actionable pest interceptions in shipment of agricultural commodities, including four interceptions of Aleurocerus sp., a scaly insect found in shipments of palm leaves, Calligrapha sp., a reportable leaf beetle, Metamasius hemipterus carbonarius, a seed weevil, Parisoschoenus sp., a stem weevil, Veronicellidae sp., a slug.

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.