I do know of a reptile collector (someone I rehomed a tortoise to) that was caught smuggling and did two years in prison, I've also heard of cycad smugglers doing time and getting huge fines. A few years ago I added citrus to my plant interests, and that really opened my eyes to importation problems. Citrus greening and canker has almost wiped out the citrus industry, and you can no longer buy trees from Florida, parts of Texas, South Carolina, Louisiana, etc. The insect vector for greening was not known in this country prior to 1989, and almost certainly came to the US via smuggled citrus plants (it is illegal to import citrus to the US). It seems as if they (the government) could make it easier to legitimately import bulbs and seed- the paperwork is somewhat intimidating and confusing, stories of confiscations even with correct paperwork are scary. No wonder many feel more comfortable trying to sneak plants in rather than go through regular channels! Susan --- On Sun, 1/25/09, Tim Harvey <zigur@hotmail.com> wrote: From: Tim Harvey <zigur@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [pbs] [BULBS-L] Importing Bulbs and Seeds To: "Bulb Society Pacific" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Date: Sunday, January 25, 2009, 8:43 PM Why not tell us about the bulbs you are growing, what your growing conditions are, or post a few pictures to the wiki? T> Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 20:26:50 -0500> From: aley_wd@mac.com> To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Subject: Re: [pbs] [BULBS-L] Importing Bulbs and Seeds> > Some people believe that smuggling is like drug use. you start small and it can sometime lead one to take more risks as you become comfortable that you've beaten the odds of getting caught. Perhaps you'd like to tell me more about how easy it is to get past the system.> You can email me directly:> william.d.aley@aphis.usda.gov> > I can discuss what civil regulations you might be interested in and the penalties that can be levied against you when caught.> > Bill> _______________________________________________> pbs mailing list> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/