tamales
Traveler carried 450 illegal pork tamales. Jiang Dongmei/ Shutterstock

US Customs and Border Protection busted a traveler who was trying to smuggle 450 pork tamales into the United States, the person was fined $1,000 after customs inspectors discovered the illegal delicacies in his luggage.The passenger, who arrived from Mexico to LAX earlier this month, did declare that they were bringing in food but when confronted during the stop, the person lied and said the tamales didn’t contain any meat, officials said.

"Although tamales are a popular holiday tradition, foreign meat products can carry serious animal diseases from countries affected by outbreaks of Avian Influenza, Mad Cow and Swine Fever," said Anne Maricich, CBP Acting Director of Field Operations in L.A. "Every day CBP agriculture specialists prevent the intentional and unintentional introduction of harmful pests and foreign animal diseases into the U.S," unfortunately the contraband tamales were destroyed under CBP supervision.

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