In 2019, federal agents in Michigan seized a variety of items at Michigan-Ontario border crossings and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, but a college student’s entry from Canada last year brought something new to the northern border, when border agents discovered the voracious khapra beetle.
The beetle was among many things seized at Michigan-Ontario border crossings and Detroit Metropolitan Airport, including guns, drugs, counterfeit products, illegal food products and suspicious cash, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture calls the khapra beetle “one of the world’s most destructive pests,” according to a report from the Associated Press. The beetle is native to India and feeds on grain and seeds.
The beetle was found in documentation after a Canadian resident came into Port Huron, but Mike Fox, Customs and Border Patrol’s Port Huron port director, said that it was not intentionally brought across the border. “To narrow down where that insect came from in Canada, it’s a long shot,” said Fox.
The insect wasn’t the only thing that the government seized in 2019. Agents also seized $7.8 million in undeclared money, nearly 500 pounds of marijuana, 600 pounds of cocaine and more than 60 guns at Michigan-Ontario border crossings and the Detroit Metro Airport.
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