(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Customs agents at O’Hare International Airport are urging people to do their homework before they order items overseas through the mail.
In mid-August, a dog working for U.S. Customs and Border Protection sniffed out a 40-pound Japanese cedar ball passing through the mail facility at O’Hare. It had been bound for a business in nearby Des Plaines.
CBP spokesperson Steve Bansbach said the ball was comprised of cedar sprigs. It was inspected for pests and destroyed.
Bansbach commerce makes it easy to buy a variety of items from all over the globe, but some items will not make it past customs inspectors.
If a consumer is not careful, “you actually may be breaking the law,” he said.
The confiscated ball may have been an example of a Sugidama, a ball of cedar sprigs that decorate Japanese breweries.
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