Biosecurity staff discover deadly poison in souvenir maracas at Auckland Airport

Seeds inside a pair of souvenir maracas, like these, were found to contain a deadly poison.
Ischa1 vi Wikimedia Commons
Seeds inside a pair of souvenir maracas, like these, were found to contain a deadly poison.

It could be a scene from James Bond: a couple arriving from Cuba with a deadly poison in a pair of maracas.

But that's what happened at Auckland Airport earlier in August.

Biosecurity staff discovered the poison abrin inside a pair of souvenir maracas being brought into the country by a couple arriving from Cuba. The couple declared the maracas.

Abrin is 75 times more toxic than its relative ricin, a deadly poison associated with spies and biological weaponry.

The poison was contained in the red seeds the maracas used for their rattle, which were discovered when the instruments were x-rayed.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) later identified the seeds as Abrus precatorius, commonly known as crab's eye or rosary pea.

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A single seed of the plant contains enough abrin toxin to kill an adult, although their hard shell allows them to be handled or even swallowed without releasing the poison, the MPI said.

The couple had declared the instruments to airport staff. They were allowed to keep the maracas once the seeds were removed.

MPI Manager North, Passenger and Mail Craig Hughes said the couple should be commended for declaring the items.

"The passengers deserve a big thank you for considering New Zealand's biosecurity needs when they filled in their declaration cards."

He said it was standard practice for MPI to x-ray hollow handicrafts like the maracas for seeds and other contaminants.

"We often find seeds and plant material, but something like Crab's eye is more unusual, although we occasionally find seeds of this type on handicrafts from Africa and the Caribbean."

The poison was not the only threat posed by the seeds. Crab's eye is an invasive pest in many tropical regions, including parts of Australia.

""It is clearly something we don't want in this country," Hughes said.

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