WELLINGTON: A 77-year-old woman was fined 3300 Australian dollars (RM10,166) for bringing a chicken sandwich on a flight from Christchurch, New Zealand to Brisbane.
According to the India Times, June Armstrong was visiting Brisbane on May 2 to spend time with her family when the incident occurred.
She purchased the chicken sandwich and gluten-free muffins at an airport in Christchurch.
It was reported that the woman fell asleep on the flight, hence she unintentionally forgot to eat the chicken sandwich that she had intended to have.
During the baggage check upon arrival in Brisbane, an immigration officer discovered the sandwich in her backpack. After realising her error, the woman asked the officer to dispose of the food.
However, after the officer left after closely inspecting the woman’s bag, he later came back and fined her.
“I just sobbed and said, 3300 Australian dollars for a small sandwich?” she said.
Armstrong called her husband to inform him of the incident after it had occurred.
Needless to say, Armstrong disagreed with her husband’s insistence on paying the fine since he had to use their pension funds for that purpose, but in the end, they made the payment.
Rightfully, a representative for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry informed Business Insider that Armstrong would need an import permit in order to bring the sandwich into Australia.
