Tarantulas, dead piglets among species smugglers are trying to get into Australia
Many people have been caught red-handed and could face up to a $1 million in fines and jail time for illegally smuggling products. See how your state compares.
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Exclusive: Live tarantulas, whole dead piglets and raw prawns, and crabs are just some of the wacky and potentially dangerous animals and other products people are attempting to sneak into Australia.
More than 100 people have been caught red-handed in the past financial year and could face up to a $1 million in fines and jail time for illegally smuggling products which pose a serious threat to Australia’s biosecurity.
New figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal Victoria was the most popular state for illegal imports with 29 cases discovered.
Items in the haul included birds’ nests from China – which are used in the much sought after birds’ nest soup – one of the world’s most expensive dishes.
“Some of the items seized beggar belief,” Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said.
“Over the years we have seen all manner of exotic items from all over the world, including live plants and bulbs, whale ear bones, animal skins and even live tarantulas.
“Some of the items in Canberra’s secure seizures storeroom include lion skins, polar bears, elephant feet and some truly shocking animal products,” Ms Ley said.
She said one “really alarming issue” at the moment is people buying products online and getting caught up in an illegal trade.
“Covid has made most of us spend more time indoors and indoor succulent plants have become a growing part of people’s wish to bring the environment into their homes.”
In 2020, more than 60,000 parcels that were a potential biosecurity risk were intercepted at Australia’s international mail centres.
Of those 45,000 parcels contained seeds and 3000 contained pork products.
So far this year, 3D X-rays at Australia’s international mail centres have intercepted 380kg of meat items in mail parcels, including 41kg of pork.
The 3D X-rays also recently uncovered 107 live succulent plants with soil attached, hidden in socks headed for Melbourne.
Head of Biosecurity at the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Andrew Tongue warned plants, seeds or bulbs can introduce “exotic pests capable of destroying our food production and agriculture industries”.
Queensland had the second highest number of illegal imports with 26 incidents involving duck meat, a string of succulent plants such as cactuses, and seeds from Great Britain.
One person was caught attempting to illegally export live cattle by ship out of Queensland to Vietnam.
In NSW there were 24 cases including items such as snails from Bulgaria, hatchlings eggs, and live plant bulbs from Romania.
In WA, there were 23 products illegally imported, including pork and sausages from France.
In SA there were four incidents including the Tarantulas. Tasmania had only two cases including fig tree cuttings from Malta and the ACT one case of live succulent plants from China.
The Northern Territory was the only state/territory where authorities have not found any illegal imports.
Some of the more remote and unusual countries of origin were Poland for the Tarantulas which were headed for South Australia, Azerbaijan and Albania for plant cuttings, animal skins from Nigeria, and live snails from Bulgaria.
China was the country of origin for most illegal smuggling with 45 cases, followed by Vietnam with 10, the United States (seven), Thailand (six), and Great Britain (six).
Last month, Brisbane man Hei Wong pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months jail but released on a bond of $3500 with a two-year good behaviour bond for attempting to import more than 2000 live Oxalis plant bulbs,
In another recent case, a Tasmanian garlic farmer was jailed and fined for smuggling hundreds of bulbs of garlic – a known host for an infectious bacteria lethal to hundreds of plants.
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