Plant smuggling has been happening everywhere, and going in all directions. Like in my country people grow the extremely valuable crop of Saffron in the foothills of our mountains in Kashmir. However some plants got smuggled to UK and North America. So now some people have started cultivating Saffron over there too, in climate controlled greenhouses. Which results in the loss of revenue for our growers in the international market. Same story about Basmati rice, which too is exclusively Pakistani. But Indians stole it, and have started cultivating it in their side of the Himalayan foothills. Which they now market as Basmati also. My country has approached the international court of justice over this. But it'll be a long process until we see any relief... However the story which I'm now going to tell is personal, as I experienced it myself - It was on social media, where someone from the West contacted me after learning that I love growing plants. He wanted Marijuana/Cannabis as well as Opium producing Poppy plants and seed from Afghanistan. I told him you have the wrong person, as I'm Pakistani, not Afghan. But he said that he couldn't find anyone in Afghanistan, that's why he's approaching me, as my country shares a border with Afghanistan. So I told him to buzz off as what he's asking for is first illegal, second the use of recreational hallucinogens is a big taboo in my society, and third I do not have any such plants, (nor will I ever keep any). But he kept on insisting, also tried to entice me into getting in this trade - Therefore I reported him, after which I blocked him also. He set up a few more fake profiles to approach me, including one of a very attractive woman. But I kept on reporting and blocking him, until he got tired and gave up. Now to be fair, I myself would like to have exotic plants from different places in the world. I mean who wouldn't! ? But NOT at the cost of ruining the environment somewhere else - That's just wrong...
And it's not just plants, but there is an underworld illegal trade of exotic fish too, as well as animals and birds, which become exotic pets - It's happening shamelessly in everyone's sight all over. Even if authorities put a stop to one operation, another soon springs up in it's place... I was actually so angry that that person asked me for Marijuana/Cannabis/Hashish and opioid producing Poppy plants from Afghanistan, (plus seeds) - That I wanted to physically hurt him in such a brutal way, that he would end up permanently disfigured for life, (would never be able to neither walk or talk straight again). However he was obviously out of my physical reach. So this in when someone else told me to turn tables of him. And just say yes to whatever we was demanding, take money from him in digital crypto currency, after which show him the middle finger - As that'll teach him a lesson! Since he was out of my physical reach, means that I was out of his too. So there won't be anything he also would be able do, (except for cool his butt in a tub of ice water), if I took his money and vanished. Anyway just when I was about to do something like that. I realized, what if he's actually some undercover cop in an international online sting operation??? So if I said yes to his demands and also look payment from him - I could end up in trouble. Because later nobody would believe that I was only trying to turn tables on him. So whenever any of you are ever approached by someone like that, just report them, after which use the block option. That's the only safe way we can put a dent in such illegal trade. Also keep screenshots of such conversations, (which unfortunately I forget to do, but I'm ready for next time).
About 15 years ago, I bought some fruit plant cuttings on Ebay. it turned out they were illegal to import. A government agent showed up at my door. I had just undergone major surgery and couldn't take care of them, so had thrown them away. The agent said he would be watching me. I did not know those were not legitimate. I felt angry, ebay should not be selling illegal plants. I quit ebay and have never bought plants except from reputable US nurseries again. On a fruit hobbyist website, I had strangers very persistent about wanting me to mail them scion and cuttings from fruit trees. I refused, pointing out state regulations about shipping across state lines. It can also be a source of disease and insect infestation, damage industries and livelihoods. There are many lessons from history about diseases spread from one place to another via crossing boundaries. I finally quit the fig website. I lived in Turkey for more than a year (Army). I was aware of soldiers who got caught buying drugs and were imprisoned. I felt lucky, drugs were not my thing. In Indonesia, there have been executions for drug smuggling. Philippines, too. Those people stripping the coastal parks of succulents, well, I'm certainly not happy about that. Other plants and animals have been subjects of similar problems over the years.
When we lived in town we had a Texas Parks and Wildlife demonstration garden (only three in central Texas--Dallas, the TPW Austin headquarters, and ours). One day two women showed up and wanted to see our garden. I was giving a mini-tour and one lady was missing. The other kept between me and my potting shed. I grew suspicious, stepped around her, and there was the other woman putting rooted rose cuttings in a very large purse. I told her to put them back and she replied, "But you have so many!" I told her to put them back. She did, and I escorted both out of the garden and to their car, telling them to never come back. I hate plant thieves! Stealing from a garden or from the wld--it's still theft.
Marlin, I'm glad you were there to tell those ding dongs to stop bein' ugly. They were so brazen! Sometimes, I just don't get people. I'm non-confrontational, so I don't know what I would do. On the inside, I might be having a dying duck fit but on the outside I just stare at people like I'm stupid.
Unfortunately, people from Western hemisphere are unable to grasp, how serious any drug related charge could be elsewhere in the world. They naively assume that at the most it too would equal to a misdemeanor. What they later painfully realize, is that it can result in capital punishment. Like in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, if anyone gets arrested with possession, they'll soon get executed in public. After the noon Friday prayers in the capital city. They bring the convicted over in a van, tie him or her to a pole like that of a street light in the parking lot, and then behead them with a sharp sword in full public view. In Iran, convicted thieves (like the ones who were stealing succulents from a hillside) get their hands cut off from the wrist, often in full public view as well - So that those hands can never be used again for thievery. People in the Western Hemisphere just aren't able to grasp that elsewhere in the world like in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East - It's literally zero tolerance when it comes to drugs or thievery of any type... In my country, we are a little softer, but only because our culture and society has been heavily influenced by the almost 200 years of British rule, (which is why I'm able to communicate in English effortlessly, as it is my native language too now). So we don't brutally kill drug traffickers in public. We simply toss them in jail and throw away the key. However be warned, that a lifetime in a Pakistani prison, can actually be a far worse punishment in comparison to getting beheaded in public, (even the worst jailers from the former Soviet Union too would shy away, if they ever witnessed the raw brutality in any Pakistani prison)... Remember the legendary Colombian durglord Pablo Escobar from the 80s and early 90s? He built a private zoo for himself on his estate, and imported exotic animals from all over the world. He also (illegally) got a few hippopotamus from Africa too, (from Zambia in the early 80s) - Now many of his "pets" have escaped from that so-called utopian zoo. And are causing an ecological disaster in Columbia. Initially it was just one male hippo and three females. But today they are over a hundred. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamuses_in_Colombia Read all about it in the above link - And below is another link! https://www.bbc.com/news/67306304 Personally I think Pablo Escobar just wanted to reunite with his lost tribe, (he was reported to be very lonely, so was always looking for kinship, specially after he killed off many of his own relatives, who he thought could double cross him in the future) - Anyway can you see the family resembles? I sure can!
