Two-year jail term for illegal importation of 62,000kg of Thai food

A woman has been sentenced for illegally importing thousands of kilograms of food from Thailand, meant for Sydney’s black market.

A woman has been sentenced to two years jail for illegally importing more than 62,000kg of Thai food into Australia, for distribution on Sydney’s black market.

Illegal pork products, frog meat, raw prawns and insect-infested fresh fruit and vegetables were imported, with the woman misdeclaring the products in a bid to evade biosecurity controls.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry was tipped off by a confidential source to the prolific amount of Thai food on the black market, before seizing the goods and mitigating the biosecurity risk.

Pork products, insect-infested fresh fruit and vegetables, frog meat and raw prawns were misdeclared. Picture: DAFF

The woman was convicted of breaching the Biosecurity Act 2015 on nine counts, and sentenced to two years’ jail served as an intensive corrections order, as well as 150 hours of community service.

Deputy secretary of biosecurity, compliance and operations Justine Saunders said the illegal importation of such a large amount of food from Thailand presented numerous biosecurity risks.

“Australia is free from many of the pests, weeds and diseases that impact agricultural productivity and the environment in other parts of the world. Our biosecurity officers work tirelessly to keep these pests out,” Ms Saunder said.

“Illegal activity can undermine Australia’s animal, plant and human health status and our excellent global reputation.”

It comes just three weeks after a wildlife smuggler was sentenced to nine months prison for smuggling live turtles and tortoises into Australia.

In 2024, an international student’s visa was cancelled after a sniffer dog detected more than 2kg of cooked meats, eggs and flowers in their luggage at Adelaide Airport.