Customs agents were alarmed at their discovery last August at Dulles International Airport: an undeclared cooler packed in a suitcase and filled with 10 test tubes of an unknown yellowish substance, brought to the U.S. by a woman claiming to be a Russian scientist.
Authorities scrambled to uncover the truth: The woman was indeed a respected Russian scientist. The test tubes were not dangerous, but contained DNA samples of endangered species, including Siberian crane, that were related to her work as a geneticist with the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Novosibirsk.
This sentencing is so non-sense because it rather shows how the legislation for scientific samples is often not really there or sensible.
During my PhD I was working on rather obscure marine invertebrate animals called Bryozoan. To any normal person they look like some algea or plant matter. I had to collect live specimens and transport them from one European country to another by airplane. If I would follow proper procedure I would need a vet check the health status of the animals at departure and arrival. No vet ever has looked at a bryozoan much less has any clue on how to access their health. So the conclusion was to simply throw them in a cooler and hand this in as the luggage. When asked whats in the cooler I just said „mostly water“.
Almost everyone in the academic community would frequently transport DNA, RNA, Antibodies, Animals and other unique samples by just placing it in the luggage. There is hardly any real alternative in an industry that is strapped for money (basic research is almost always poor)