Las Vegas woman receives mysterious seed package from China

The Nevada Department of Agriculture is investigating after at least one Las Vegan received a mysterious packet of unidentified seeds in the mail from China.

People around the country have reported receiving unsolicited packages containing seeds in the mail, the department said in a Facebook post. The packages, mailed from China, are often labeled as jewelry, the post said.

The packages have drawn warnings from authorities in other states saying that the origins of the seeds are unknown and they could pose a hazard.

The Las Vegas woman who received seeds in the mail, who asked not to be identified because she grew “terrified after the package arrived,” said the yellow envelope delivered to her mailbox was addressed to her by name.

“The only reason I opened it was because I’d recently ordered a little toy for my daughter, and it was supposed to come from Hong Kong,” she said. “But I had just seen (the Department of Agriculture’s post about the nationwide issue) the night before, so as soon as I opened it, I knew something was wrong.”

The Agriculture Department post offered advice to people who receive the mysterious packages:

■ Don’t open the package. Leave it in an isolated place and report it to the department.

■ If you have already opened the package, place the entire thing in a plastic bag and seal it. Do not throw away the outer packaging.

■ Do not plant the seeds, as “unsolicited seeds could be invasive, introduce diseases to local plants or be harmful to livestock,” the post said.

A representative of the state Agriculture Department declined to comment on the Nevada case or say if the department had received other reports.

The woman said she placed her package in a plastic bag and reported it to the department, which called her Wednesday morning and told her to keep the package details to help investigators track who sent it.

She said she might have opened the inner package, which contained what looked like pumpkin seeds, if she hadn’t read the department’s post the night before.

“If I hadn’t read the post, I probably would have just thrown them away and said, ‘Oh, that’s weird,’ ” she said. “But I’m worried that there might be kids out there who would plant them because they think it would make a funny TikTok.”

Anyone who receives a similar package can contact Russell Wilhelm at 702-750-5910 or rwilhelm@agri.nv.gov.

Contact Alexis Ford at aford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexisdford on Twitter.