Costa Rican Officials
Confiscate Tonnes of
Illegal Garlic
Authorities yesterday
confiscate a large haul
of contraband garlic.
Five thousand kilos of
the illegal cloves were
detected at the borded
by officials of the
Ministerio de
Agricultura y Ganaderķa
(MAG) - Agriculture and
Livestock ministry.
The garlic was being
brought in from China to
be sold in Costa Rica.
According to Javier
Laurent Valladares chief
of Cuarentena Vegetal
for the MAG in Paso
Canoas, the confiscation
was a result of an
investigation stemming
from several complaints.
Valladares sais that the
main reason for the
confiscation is that the
garlic is contaminated
with disease and plagues
that can damage
plantations and is not
easy to detect.
"The MAG has rejected
the import of a number
of shipments of garlic
from China, given the
presence of disease and
plagues that could
affect crops. Following
the rejection,
unscrupulous importers
decided to bring in the
shipment illegally from
Panama", said Vallardes.
Vallardes added that the
confiscated cloves of
garlic will be destroyed
to avoid contamination.
In a similar action,
last week the MAG
confiscated a shipment
of 52 thousands kilos of
eggs from Panama. |
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