A woman was caught trying to smuggle nearly 1,000 cacti and succulents to New Zealand by stuffing them in her stockings and tying them to her body when she arrived from China, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Sniffer dogs tracked down the prickly plants on Auckland resident Wenqing Li, 38, known as Wendy, who was trying to get rid of her supplies in a toilet on March 24, 2019.
The 947 cacti and succulents – including eight endangered and endangered species – were worth more than $ 10,000.
Li pleaded guilty to charges related to two separate incidents at the airport. She was sentenced Wednesday in Manukau District Court to 12 months of intensive supervision and 100 hours of community work.
She planned to sell the plants on the online market TradeMe.
In a separate case on July 23, 2019, she was found in possession of 142 unauthorized seeds hidden in her luggage in two iPad cases.
More than 200 plant pots, including a snail, were also discovered.
“This sentencing serves as a good reminder that anyone smuggling plants or other endangered species into New Zealand can expect to be prosecuted,” said Simon Anderson, an official at the Department of Primary Care, which deals with biosafety. .
“It is important to remember that transporting unauthorized plants by any means, whether personally smuggling across the border or receiving products by mail, endangers New Zealand biosafety,” he said.