China mystery seeds: Beijing offers to help US investigate source of packages

[dufus]

 

The Chinese postal service has offered to help investigate the source of mysterious packages of seeds that have been appearing in people's postboxes in the United States.

Residents across the US have reported receiving unsolicited packages from China, often marked as containing toys or jewellery.

 

The types of seeds have yet to be identified and agriculture officials have warned residents not to plant them in case they prove to be harmful or invasive species.

 

On Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular press briefing: "China Post has asked the United States Postal Service to return this faked mail to China so China can investigate."

 

Wang said information labels on the packages appeared to be forged, according to checks by China's postal service, adding that there were errors in the information attached to the packages.

 

Wang also said the Chinese postal service strictly adhered to the Universal Postal Union's rules about handling seeds.

 

The mystery packages appeared at a time of growing tension between the two countries, including the recent tit-for-tat consulate closures.

 

Agriculture officials in at least 27 states have warned people who receive the seeds not to plant them and contact the authorities.

 

The Virginia department of agriculture was one of the departments to warn that they might contain invasive species which "wreak havoc on the environment, displace or destroy native plants and insects and severely damage crops".

 

"Right now, we are uncertain what types of seeds are in the package," Mike Strain, the commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said in a statement.

source

[mikie]

Seeds I saw some news reporter zoom in on looked like normal Sunflower Seeds & Citrus Seeds.

[dufus]

TORONTO—British and Canadian government agencies are investigating reports that people in their countries are receiving mystery packages of seeds.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which issued an announcement on Tuesday, didn’t provide details, but the circumstances appear similar to some in the U.S., where state officials and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are investigating reports that hundreds of residents have received seeds in the mail they didn’t order.

wsj.com   paywall

 

CFIA investigating mysterious shipments of seeds landing in mailboxes

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning gardeners not to plant "unauthorized seeds" from packages they weren't expecting to arrive in the mail.

The agency says it is investigating reports of people receiving unsolicited shipments of seeds.

Authorities warn that "unauthorized seeds" could sprout into invasive plants or carry pests that can be harmful if introduced to Canada.

They say these species can invade agricultural and natural areas, causing "serious damage to our plant resources."

 

Hundreds of Brit gardeners 'warned not to plant mystery seeds sent from China'

 

that,s what they want you to think ...... 😉

[Akaneharuka]

Not only that a lit of people in Japan received that package too including my friend

 

But the address that package is come to was my friend Amazon`s post

 

That mean the Customer data from  amazon is leaking again...

 

[mp68terr]

And after all these days, agencies from US, Canada, UK and likely other countries are not able to tell what these seeds are.

Is everybody on holidays?

 

Or, there are probably different kinds of seeds (small black seeds like in the above pic, and sunflower-like seeds from another post) all linked within the same story.

[dufus]

Japanese Reportedly Receive Mysterious Seed Parcels From China