A Canberra man has been fined $660 after trying to import three fertile chicken eggs through Sydney Airport almost two years ago.
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The man, Dang Thaow, was caught at the international airport in November 2015, after flying in from Bangkok with the three eggs hidden in his pockets and underwear.
He pleaded guilty in Queanbeyan Local Court on Monday to one count of illegal importation under the Quarantine Act and was order to pay the $660 fine, be fingerprinted and photographed.
The federal Agriculture Department's acting head of compliance, Dr Robyn Cleland, said that when it came to biosecurity, it only took one bad egg to "put us all at risk".
"Fertile chicken eggs are high biosecurity risk items as they can carry exotic diseases such as Newcastle Disease and Avian Influenza," she said.
Mr Thaow had told authorities he intended to eat the eggs for medicinal purposes, but DNA testing confirmed they were fertilised chicken eggs.
Department investigators also executed a search warrant on Mr Thaow's residence, where a number of domestic chickens and hens were found in cages, which he denied owning.
