A Sri Lankan has been fined $5,500 after attempting to breach Australia’s biosecurity border control last month.
According to ABC News, plant cuttings disguised as botox, tea, and seafood have cost four travellers, including the Sri Lankan, entering Australia $22,000 in fines.
The passengers were each issued with maximum fines of $5,500 after separately attempting to breach Australia’s biosecurity border control in a five-day period last month.
According to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, a traveller from Sri Lanka attempted to hide plant cuttings in their luggage, which also included bananas and flour, when arriving at Sydney Airport on May 16.
The same day, a passenger arriving in Brisbane from the Philippines was caught bringing macadamia plants, cotton tree seeds and mango.
Two days later someone travelling from Vietnam arrived at Melbourne Airport with plant cuttings hidden in a box labelled as carrying botox.
Then on May 20, a fourth traveller, arriving in Brisbane from Vietnam, was found with nine plant cuttings in an unopened bag labelled as tea.
The plant cuttings have since been destroyed.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said the plants could have carried a number of diseases, of which the most feared was xyella.
An outbreak of the bacterial disease was estimated to cost Australian farmers more than $11 billion, depending on the size of the incursion.
Australia’s biosecurity officials have been on high alert since foot-and-mouth disease was detected in Indonesia last year.
An outbreak of the animal virus in Australia could wipe tens of billions of dollars from Australia’s economy.
Biosecurity laws were amended late last year, increasing the maximum penalty to $5,500 from January 1 this year.
The first infringement under the new laws was issued on May 5, to an Australian passenger carrying seeds when re-entering the country. (NewsWire)