Two passengers who “made no effort” to declare a suitcase full of fruit on a flight from South Africa to Perth have been fined nearly A$10,000 (US$5,500).
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Agriculture minister Warren Truss explained that “three apples, two pears and more than eight and a half kilograms of dried apple, plums and grapes” was discovered during an X-ray examination of the couple’s luggage in Perth.
In a statement, Truss said: “The couple claimed they did not think the items qualified as food, even though one of them is a supermarket manager.”
The A$9,936 fine, handed down by a magistrate’s court in Brisbane, amounts to the largest ever penalty for an infringement of Australia’s strict quarantine and customs laws.
Truss said that the fine was “a timely reminder to all Australians of the importance of declaring items of quarantine concern” because of the quarantine risks associated with the dried fruit.
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By GlobalData
