Saturday, December 14, 2013

Business Espionage - "Corn ain't just chicken feed, Bubb"

Two Chinese agricultural scientists face charges after they were caught trying to smuggle a variety of seeds — stolen from a biopharmaceutical plant in Kansas — into China, Reuters reports.

After a tour of agricultural facilities and universities in the Midwest and Arkansas, the two Chinese nationals were caught with the seeds as they boarded a plane for home, the report says. 

(In a separate, but parallel espionage case, "Investigators found ears of corn stashed in an Illinois self-storage unit, dozens of bags of corn kernels stuffed under the seat of a car, and hundreds of pictures of corn fields and production facilities.")

Don’t be fooled because they’re “just” seeds. The unidentified victim of the theft had invested about $75 million in patented technology to create the seeds, the report says. (more)