Suspicious seed packages in Butte County

Butte County officials are warning the public about suspicious seed packages that are being shipped to people.

China are showing up in mailboxes across the countryã including here at home.

Action news now reporter kristian lopez is live at the butte county agriculture commissioner's office in chicoã kristian - do we know what they are yet?

We're still working to find that out debbie but the department here tells me its aleady picked up more than 30 packages since monday.

These packets of seeds sent from china started showing up a few days ago just a few days ago.

The ag department sent out this news release yesterday telling people to call them if they had some of these suspicious seeds.

This is what the shipments look like - inside them are little black seeds.

The packages are often labeled as jewlery or toys.

The seeds may not look dangerous butte county commssioner louie mendoza says the potential for damage could be in the millions.

"the potential threat is non native invasive pests, thats one concern, the other concern we have is that seeds they are able to harbor viruses, diseases and nemotodes which can be detrimental to our landscaping and to our 632 million dollar ag industry.

" you can see by this video that some people had already plante* the seeds these have been collected as well.

Mendoza says they're storing these plants and packages at their oroville office while they figure out what to do next.

He says you should*no* attempt to dispose of them yourselves.

You should call them so they can come pick them up or set up a time for you to drop them off at their chico, oroville or gridley office.

In chico kl action news now coverage you can count on.