In a bizarre event, unsolicited seeds from China have arrived in hundreds of mailboxes in New Mexico.
The received seeds are under federal investigation with confusion and uncertainty on why they were sent from a "mysterious Chinese address," KOB4 reported.
The USDA found that "most of the seed shipments were illegal because they entered the United States without a permit," according to KOB4.
“There was a full range of seeds – some were flower seeds, some were herbs, some were fruit,” Katie Laney of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture Las Cruces said, told by KOB4. “There were just a couple [seeds] that were identified as noxious weeds at the federal level. That in itself is a violation of the New Mexico Seed Law — seeds have to be correctly labeled. The bigger concern is because [the seeds] were unknown, they could have been harmful weed seeds that were invasive, they could have harbored some sort of biological nuisance or pathogen."
According to KOB4, the USDA said the shipments of seeds might have been part of what is called a "brushing scam" where sellers will ship out inexpensive items so it looks like their transactions totals are higher, which allows them to boost ratings on online shopping platforms.
“The recommendation was to not plant them simply because there was so much unknown about them," Laney said, told by KOB4. "We didn't know what kind of seeds they were. We didn't know if they posed a threat. We didn't know whether there was any material in there that posed a threat."
KOB4 reports that federal and state authorities are urging anyone who may continue to receive unsolicited seeds to not plant them and report them to make sure they are disposed of properly.