In the first incident, in March 2019, Li stuffed 947 cacti and succulents in stockings and tied them to the body. The treasury contained eight endangered species and was worth more than 10,000 New Zealand dollars ($ 7,200), the Ministry of Primary Industries, responsible for biosafety, said in a press release on Wednesday.
Li, who is from Auckland, on the North Island, tried to throw away the plants in the airport toilets after getting the attention of a police dog. But officials said they found a “large amount” of plant material around the bathrooms, including in a trash can.
In a separate incident in July 2019, Li discovered he had hidden 142 unauthorized seeds inside iPad cases in his luggage and more than 200 garden ornaments and plant pots – carrying a snail and pieces of fern stem – that were all wrapped in wet paper.
Li pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced at Manukau District Court on Tuesday to 12 months of “intensive supervision” and 100 hours of community service.
Intensive supervision is a community-based sentence and usually requires the offender to report regularly to a probation officer and may include other specific requirements imposed by the court.
Simon Anderson, manager of the regional team at the Ministry of Primary Industries, said that the smuggling of unauthorized plants puts “New Zealand’s biosafety at risk” and that the sentence was a “good reminder that anyone who smuggles plants or other species threatened for New Zealand can wait to be prosecuted. “
“Our country is fortunate to be free of many of the invasive pests and diseases found in other countries,” he added.
“Our economy and way of life depends on keeping these threats out of the country.”