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)