When South African officials at Cape Town\u2019s international airport came across cardboard boxes labelled as toys being sent to China they became suspicious.<\/p>\n
China is famous for exporting toys around world – not importing them.<\/p>\n
The boxes were opened for a spot check – and instead of finding the promised toddler\u2019s cooking set or a board game inside, they discovered bundles of endangered succulent plants all carefully wrapped in toilet paper.<\/p>\n
In total 23,000 plants known as conophytum were found in that consignment in April 2022, investigators with the Endangered Species Unit of the South African Police Service told the BBC.<\/p>\n
The authorities had been on the alert after a courier company was nearly duped by the same ploy a few months earlier.<\/p>\n
About a year later, the authorities at the same airport came across cardboard boxes labelled as mushrooms. They were also being exported to China.<\/p>\n
When opened, they saw bags usually used for onions stuffed with succulents – around 12,000 pieces.<\/p>\n