A bulging sack of highly invasive yet extremely cool-looking Giant African Snails were seized from a traveler at JFK Airport on Sunday.

According to Customs and Border Patrol, which seizes thousands of illegal things every day that do not merit this kind of press release, a man arrived on a flight from Ghana and promptly declared the 22 snails.

Unfortunately for him, these snails are prohibited, because they eat almost anything, breed like crazy, and carry a terrifying parasite that causes something called "rat lungworm." The snails can reach up to 8 inches long and 5 inches wide when fully grown.

"As far as being able to spread and reproduce really fast, they're really good at that," said Wallace Meyer, a professor of biology at Pomona College, who has studied the Giant African Snail. "They can lay eggs pretty rapidly—their clutches can be hundreds of eggs in each clutch."

Hmmm OK, yes, the snails are slightly less appealing in this photo.

CBP

The snails have also been observed eating more than 500 species of plant, making them adept at tearing through crops. Florida and Hawaii have had to deal with their own invasive snail populations, after the animals were introduced there in the mid-20th century.

"One of the hypotheses in Hawaii, is that people thought it would be cool to have really big snails cruising around. There's something to that theory," Meyer said.

If the snails are ingested, or if you touch your hands to your mouth after playing with your Giant African Snail, there's a good chance you could get rat lungworm, which is caused by a parasitic nematode that in severe cases, leads to spinal meningitis in humans.

OK this is slightly cuter. I can once again see the appeal of these snails.

CBP

According to a CBP spokesperson, the man with the snails was not charged with any crimes, because he declared his snails. As for the snails themselves, they were released to the US Department of Agriculture.

Meyer said he has noticed a growing market for the creatures online.

"I find them intriguing ecologically, but I wouldn't necessarily want them as a pet," he said. "What does that mean for a species' ability to spread across he globe? That's kind of concerning to me."