Live Insect Larvae Found In Plastic Flowers At JFK Airport: Feds

QUEENS — John F. Kennedy Airport officials were bugged following their discovery inside some plastic flowers coming from Kenya this month.

U. S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists at the airport's mailing system found hundreds of live insect larvae inside a shipment of artificial flowers from Kenya on May 3.

The shipment, which contained more than 600 insects, was seized for violating federal regulations, which prohibit pests from coming into the country because of its effects on global trade and food supply.

The pests could "potentially cause grave damage to our agricultural and economic vitality,” said Francis J. Russo, director of field operations at CBP's New York office.

Nearly 28,000 prohibited agriculture items have been seized and 4,500 pests have been discovered in air cargo by officials at JFK Airport this year, authorities said.

Nationwide, officials found 2,677 prohibited plants, meats, animal byproducts, and soils and intercepted 240 insect pests in fiscal year 2022.