Crimes Against Nature

This is so cool. Keith (he of the spotless criminal record, strong moral code, candidate for sainthood, and teacher of mentally handicapped children) was arrested by Australian Customs.

And here is what he was arrested for:
Yup, ginseng tea. Keith had brought some in for a friend who is having thyroid trouble. Turns out he'd got AMERICAN ginseng tea which, apparently, is on the endangered species list ... and so he was hauled off.

Me? Like any good wife should, I said "You're on your own, Buster!" and dashed out of Customs for a smoke (hey, it was an 8 hour flight.)

Anyway, there's Keith, off in some Customs arrested room, going "But I didn't know it was an endangered species. I bought it at HK's Park and Shop Supermarket. It's everywhere there!" and then a nice lady Customs Officer comes in and says "It's everywhere over here too. I've seen it in all the supermarkets." and so the other Customs Officers go "OK, we'll just let you off with a Caution this time!" and they wrote out something impressive and official-looking, handed him back the offending object and let him go.

So, let that be a lesson to everyone out there: AMERICAN ginseng tea is an endangered species and so, no matter how much you see of it in supermarkets everyplace - probably why it's on the list in the first place - NEVER carry any through Customs EVER!!!