An international student has received a $3756 fine and had his visa cancelled for attempting to bring more than 2kg of cooked meat and eggs into Australia.
Biosecurity detector dog, Ghost, sniffed out the offending items at Adelaide airport’s baggage claim area this week, working with his handler, Rebecca.
The passenger was referred for additional screening where biosecurity officers discovered 2.7kg of cooked meat, suspected to be pork, 300g of cooked egg, and 6 fresh frangipani flowers – none of which had been declared by the traveller on their Incoming Passenger Card.
Illegal pork imports could potentially harbour diseases including Foot & Mouth Disease and African Swine Fever, threatening Australia’s Disease-free status.
The passenger was referred to Australian Border Force, which upheld biosecurity officers’ recommendation to cancel the student’s visa.
Labrador Ghost (pictured) is one of the dogs funded through an $11.7 million investment in Australia’s detector dog program in 2022–23. In just his first year, Ghost stopped almost 400 biosecurity risk items from entering Australia through detections.
In his first year of deployment, Ghost intercepted 194 travellers and mail articles entering Australia, totalling 381 biosecurity risk items seized. This included:
- 111 animal products
- 104 fruit products
- 62 plant products
- 38 vegetable products
- 66 other products
Some examples of items Ghost has intercepted include sausages, guava and pork floss.
In 2023, nearly 400,000 biosecurity risk items were stopped by biosecurity officers at Australia’s international airports, including more than 19,000 in Adelaide.
Illegal cooked pork items found by detector dog Ghost at Adelaide airport
Biosecurity and Compliance Deputy Secretary Tina Hutchison said it was important travellers coming to Australia declare all food, animals, plants, and seeds on their Incoming Passenger Card.
“Commercial international flights arriving in Australia provide our incoming passenger biosecurity information, which clearly outlines what’s prohibited – including food and animal and plant products,” Ms Hutchison said.
“Our best advice is if in doubt, leave it out when you’re packing. But if you’re already on your way here, just declare truthfully on your Incoming Passenger Card and our biosecurity officers will assess your items.
“You will not be penalised under the Biosecurity Act 2015 if you declare and present all goods, even if they are not allowed into Australia.
“Our frontline biosecurity officers and our detector dog teams go above and beyond to protect Australia’s agricultural industries, our food supply chain, our environment, and our unique way of life,” Ms Hutchison said.
All 20 additional detector dogs that were funded through the Detector Dog Program budget measure will be delivered before the end of 2024. Eighteen of the 20 detector dog handlers for the program have been recruited, and of those, six handlers have finished their training and have been deployed, with the other 12 undergoing or about to commence their training.