Strict quarantine of animals and plants entering and leaving the country cracked down on smuggling of endangered animals and plants In the first eight months of this year, customs intercepted 41,644 species of quarantine pests

Original title: Strict quarantine of animals and plants entering and leaving the country cracked down on the smuggling of endangered animals and plants In the first eight months of this year, customs intercepted 41,644 species of quarantine pests

The picture shows the customs staff of the Beijing Post Office seizing 78 endangered plants of the cactus family. Photo by Meng Chen

□ Reporter Cai Yanhong

Recently, when the Beijing Customs Post Office Customs supervised the mail in key countries and regions, it found that a mail contained 78 suspected cacti, which were identified as endangered plants in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

In recent years, China's biodiversity conservation work has made world-renowned achievements, customs is the first line of defense for national biosecurity and biodiversity conservation, customs in all localities under the leadership of the General Administration of Customs, strict quarantine of animals and plants entering and leaving the country, strengthen the prevention and control of invasive alien species ports, strictly crack down on the smuggling of endangered animals and plants and their products, and make every effort to build a front-line biosecurity "firewall" at the national gate. From January to August 2021, customs across the country intercepted a total of 288 species and 41,644 species of quarantine pests, and intercepted 5,868 batches of alien species, seeds and seedlings and other prohibited live animals and plants in non-trade channels such as mail, express mail, and passenger goods, of which live beetles, ants, frogs and other alien species were intercepted many times in inbound parcels.

Prevention and control gate "moved forward"

On October 12, the customs officer of the Shenzhen Post Office under Shenzhen Customs found an abnormality when conducting an image inspection of a transit express, and after opening the package according to law, 300 ants were intercepted in the test tube and plastic box in the package. It has been identified as Mexican honeypot ants, Turkic bowback ants, savage harvest ants, and eight-spined leaf-cutting ants, all of which are general pests. At present, it has been transferred to the follow-up disposal department for further processing in accordance with the law.

In recent years, with the development of economic and social development, some pet lovers who pursue new trends and curiosity have set off a boom in raising alternative pets, and many speculators have illegally imported "exotic pets" from abroad to meet the strong domestic demand.

In order to build a national biosecurity protection network, Shenzhen Customs, based on its functions, will "move forward" the prevention and control gate, establish an information collection group on animal and plant epidemics and invasive alien species, collect information on the risk of alien species at home and abroad, dynamically study and judge animal and plant products that may be falsely reported, and accurately control and intercept them. In the port prevention and control link, establish a joint workstation model of "animal and plant quarantine department + risk control sub-bureau + subordinate customs + animal and plant technology center", and the whole chain of "function + intelligence + scene + center" linkage prevention and control, and compile typical cases into a book to accurately guide front-line customs officers to improve the efficiency of investigation and issuance. At the same time, we will strengthen joint prevention and control with local governments, and smooth information exchange channels for animal and plant epidemic diseases such as red fire ants, and form a joint prevention and control force of "Guandi".

In August this year, customs officers of the Shenzhen Post Office found three muppet dolls in a package of inbound express mail, all of which had flax seeds hidden in their abdomen, about 2.2 kilograms.

According to reports, the illegal entry of seeds without quarantine abroad may have the risk of biological invasion, and some seeds carry harmful organisms, which pose a potential threat to China's ecological environment and germplasm resources security.

In this regard, Shenzhen Customs through scientific and technological means, the application of big data screening, analysis and sorting of case clues, key countries (regions), key commodities for key deployment control, the seizure of invasive alien species for image data collection, algorithm optimization and model construction, relying on CT machine intelligent review map to quickly lock live animals, seed seedlings and other high-risk packages, to ensure that invasive alien species are kept out of the country. Since the beginning of this year, Shenzhen Customs has intercepted 188 batches of 347 invasive alien species and 744 batches of illegally introduced seeds and seedlings.

Strengthen risk warning

Recently, when the Nantong Customs officers under Nanjing Customs inspected a batch of imported cotton, they intercepted a number of live spiders in the container and found that two of them had red hourglass-like patches on their abdomens. The intercepted spider was identified as the "Brown Widow" geometric spider.

The "brown widow" is highly toxic, and after being bitten by her, she will have symptoms of poisoning such as limb pain, nausea and vomiting, and muscle spasms. At present, in accordance with relevant regulations, Nantong Customs has implemented fumigation and pest removal treatment for the batch of imported cotton, effectively resisting the risk of invasion of foreign pests.

Recently, the Supervision Section of the Postal Office of Jinling Customs, which belongs to Nanjing Customs, has carried out the ninth risk prevention and control situation analysis work this year. Nanjing Customs attaches great importance to the discovery, early warning and response of risk factors such as major animal and plant epidemics, establishes and improves the emergency response plan for the sudden handling of major animal and plant epidemics, and improves the rapid emergency response mechanism. By optimizing the rules of port operation, strengthening risk early warning, and effectively improving the pertinence and effectiveness of port checks. Relying on the animal and plant quarantine capacity improvement project, improve the port inspection, testing and identification and other facilities and equipment, accelerate the construction of the port preliminary screening and identification room, and ensure that the detection is accurate, accurate and fast. Give full play to the advantages of technical personnel, through organizing and carrying out post skills training, post qualification and ability improvement training, carry out the research and development and application of rapid identification technology for biological species, quarantine treatment technology and inspection facilities, and establish a database for the detection and identification of invasive alien species in the customs area.

In addition, Nanjing Customs has also strengthened cooperation with professional identification platforms such as the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shanghai Botanical Garden, and the Forest Police College, and significantly improved the identification ability of foreign pests and alien species. Improve the joint prevention and control mechanism, strengthen the division of labor and cooperation with the provincial agricultural and rural areas, ecological environment and other departments, strengthen law enforcement mutual assistance and information sharing, and coordinate the prevention and control of animal and plant epidemic diseases and invasive alien species.

Since the beginning of this year, Nanjing Customs has intercepted 124 species of quarantine pests and 12,555 species at ports, and intercepted 788 species of alien species such as live invasive pave ants, desert rose seeds and cannabis seeds from incoming mail from the United States and Germany.

Intensify the crackdown

Recently, the customs officer of the Guangzhou Post Office affiliated to Guangzhou Customs found an abnormal image when supervising 1 piece of inbound mail, and after opening the box and inspecting, it was found that the inner pieces were 3 scrolls of calligraphy and painting, and the texture of the shaft heads at both ends of the scroll was very similar to the characteristics of the ivory pattern. The on-site customs officers immediately used spectral analysis instruments to screen and preliminarily judged that the 6 shaft heads of the painting shaft were suspected ivory products. Since then, 8 pieces of paint shaft heads suspected of ivory products have been seized in 1 inbound mail. After identification, the above 14 painting shaft heads are all modern elephant ivory products. Modern elephants belong to the national level of protected wild animals, and Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora lists protected species.

Since the beginning of this year, Guangzhou Customs has continued to increase its efforts to crack down on the smuggling of ivory and its products. "Most of the ivory products seized in the air port are from Africa, mostly small handicrafts such as bracelets, bracelets and pendants." Du Zeqiang, deputy chief of the first section of the travel inspection section of the second customs inspection department of Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, said that lawbreakers have hidden smuggled ivory into the country through various means in an attempt to evade customs supervision, some hiding ivory products in shoes and clothes, some hiding them in milk powder cans, vacuum cleaners, audio equipment, and luggage levers, and some even dyeing ivory products and disguised them as wood products in an attempt to smuggle them into the country.

In order to severely crack down on the smuggling of endangered species such as ivory and their products, Guangzhou Customs has continuously strengthened the risk analysis of big data, accurately locked high-risk inbound flights and crowds, locked abnormal baggage in advance through X-ray machine inspection, and used intelligent identification technology and video structure technology to accurately intercept. The use of CT machines, intelligent map review and other scientific and technological inspection methods to effectively crack down on the smuggling of endangered species such as ivory and their products.

Recently, when the Kunming Customs' Kwacho Customs inspected a batch of imported goods named "Onions", it was found that 4381 dried seahorses of 4 varieties were hidden. After identification, they are all endangered species listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

The reporter learned that in order to maintain national ecological security and biodiversity, the national customs attaches great importance to ecological and environmental law enforcement work, adopts a combination of positive supervision and cracking down on violations of laws and regulations, implements strict and effective supervision of means of transport, goods and articles entering and leaving the country, regards the smuggling of endangered wild animals and plants such as ivory and their products as the top priority, earnestly performs its duties, strikes hard and strictly manages them, and achieves important results and good results. From January 2019 to September 2021, the national customs investigated and handled 923 cases of smuggling endangered wild animals and plants and their products, and seized 1552.7 tons of various endangered wild animals and plants and their products. (Cai Yanhong)

Source: Rule of Law Daily