Customs officers in southern China seized a cannonball tree fruit from a traveller who was returning from Singapore earlier this month. They said it could "potentially explode".
The 30 cm-wide brown fruit, which resembles a husked coconut and weighs 3.8 kg, was tucked inside a luggage bag before it was picked up during X-ray security scanning on January 5 in Zhuhai, Guangdong.
The authority said the fruit was a risk as it could "explode" when it is ripe or encounters an external force. The traveller, who did not declare the fruit as required under quarantine and customs regulations, said the cannonball tree fruit was a gift from a friend in Singapore who had planted it.
Gongbei Customs warned that travellers are not allowed to bring fresh fruits and plants which can reproduce into the country.
According to the website of Singapore's National Parks Board (NParks), the cannonball tree "was grown for its interesting botanical features and also as an ornamental tree in the Singapore Botanic Gardens". It can also be found elsewhere in Singapore, including the East Coast Park and residential areas.
According to an article on straitstimes.com, the fruit, which hangs along long thick stalks which stick out from the trunk, is filled with notoriously stinky soft red pulp. It takes a year for the fruit to mature, before it comes crashing down to the ground with an ear-splitting thud. Apparently, the stench that the fruit releases is almost indescribable.
