One Chinese tourist recently returned home with a very unique and highly toxic souvenir from a recent trip to Ethiopia, according to The Nanfang Daily.
The man, who has not been identified by local authorities, was busted at Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport with 0.1 kilograms of seeds from the highly toxic abrus precatorius in his suitcase. The plant, also known as the rosary pea, is a pantropic plant that contains abrine, a substance that can kill a man in doses of three micrograms if inhaled or ingested, according to China Daily.
The toxin abrine has been closely compared to ricin, the deadly compound of Breaking Bad fame.
An emergency plan was launched upon identification of the seeds to ensure that the staff handling them would be safe and that the seeds would be properly kept until their destruction.
Admittedly, the seeds are beautiful to look at (and have allegedly been used in bracelets before, as some native groups use the seeds in jewelry) and this is exactly why our curious Chinese traveller decided to bring them home. According to reports, upon being caught with the seeds the man told authorities he loved the look of the seeds and assumed they were harmless.
Chinese citizens are being reminded to not pickup unknown plants or their seeds while visiting foreign nations.
[Image via China Daily.]
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