see also: in May 2008:   Deputy Chief of the Border Patrol Announces State of the Agency   CBP Celebrates Significant Occasions at Advanced Training Center in West Virginia   CBP to Issue New Frequent Traveler Cards   Ecstasy and Methamphetamine Seized at Ambassador Bridge   CBP Races to Secure NASCAR’s Monster Mile   CBP Air and Marine Agents Interdict Migrants in Florida at the Start of Memorial Day Weekend   Border Patrol Agents Rescue 51 Illegal Aliens from Tractor Trailer ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

contacts for this news release

Philadelphia – Philadelphia has undeservedly been labeled unwelcoming by some visitors, especially by the fans of the home football team's opponents, but for 26 six-legged visitors, the chilly reception they received in the City of Brotherly Love, Friday may have just saved the nation's agriculture industry.

Hercules, Rhinoceros and Goliath beetles of the family Scarabaeidae, some the size of a child's hand, traveled half-way around the world before U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists froze them and ended any threat the enormous beetles may have posed to the U.S. agriculture industry.

"The specimens were some of the largest of their kind, and some of the largest I've ever seen, averaging five to six inches in diameter," said John Plummer, CBP agriculture specialist in Philadelphia. "They are highly destructive insect pests that can cause extensive damage to fruit and vegetable crops, trees, shrubs and turf grasses."

It is illegal to ship live beetles into the country without a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. CBP officers found no USDA permit associated with this shipment and initiated an investigation. CBP agriculture specialists will ship the frozen beetles to the USDA to be properly identified.

The parcel arrived from Taiwan to a postal facility in Mohnton, Pa., a town near Reading, Pa., about 65 miles northwest of Philadelphia sometime Wednesday. The contents were labeled as toys, gifts and jellies, but the Postmaster suspected the box contained live organisms instead and notified authorities.

CBP agriculture specialists directed postal inspectors to properly secure the package and deliver it to CBP authorities in Philadelphia.

CBP agriculture specialists X-rayed the package once it arrived in Philadelphia and observed smaller boxes and containers inside the package. CBP agriculture specialists opened the box in a secure CBP laboratory and counted 26 vials and containers of enormous live adult beetles of the family Scarabaeidae. Also in the vials and containers, seven of which were labeled with lids depicting either the symbol for male or female potentially for breeding, were soaked tissues and beetle jelly to sustain the insect pests during shipping.

CBP agriculture specialists in the Port of Philadelphia eradicate hundreds of harmful, non-indigenous beetles every year that arrive via air or sea shipments.

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.