O’Mbewe! United States seizes Malawian ‘mice’ at Chicago airport
A traveller arriving from Malawi had their bag busted at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport carrying over 2lbs of dead African mice for human consumption and 22lbs (10kg) of beef. Agriculture K-9 Elvis sniffed out the luggage, prompting US Customs officers to search it. Authorities seized the mice over the risk of zoonotic disease and the beef...
traveller arriving from Malawi had their bag busted at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport carrying over 2lbs of dead African mice for human consumption and 22lbs (10kg) of beef.
Agriculture K-9 Elvis sniffed out the luggage, prompting US Customs officers to search it.
Authorities seized the mice over the risk of zoonotic disease and the beef to prevent the introduction of livestock diseases. Photos released by US authorities show the seized mice wrapped in pages of Malawi’s The Nation newspaper.
AG K-9 Elvis alerted to a traveler’s bag at O’Hare. AG Specialists searched & found over 2lbs of dead African mice for human consumption & 22lbs of beef. The mice were seized because of the risk of zoonotic disease & the beef was seized to prevent introducing livestock diseases. pic.twitter.com/WpKzORR2sg
— CBP Chicago (@CBPChicago) August 31, 2026
“The mice were seized because of the risk of zoonotic disease & the beef was seized to prevent introducing livestock diseases,” the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Chicago Field Office (CBP Chicago) posted on X (formerly Twitter).
French Polony products manufactured by Ori Meat Products, a meat processor based in Blantyre, Malawi, are also among the seized items. The passenger has not been identified.
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