Two Ukrainian arrivals in detention after pork found in baggage at Perth International Airport

Two Ukrainian visitors who arrived at Perth International Airport are in immigrant detention instead of hotel quarantine after attempting to illegally bring pork and other meat into the country. The merchant seamen arrived on Friday night aboard a flight from Singapore with transit visas and were due to enter 14 days of hotel quarantine ahead of joining a commercial ship departing Fremantle. But their visas were cancelled for breaching Australia’s strict biosecurity laws. The pair are awaiting removal and are likely to be ineligible to return to the country for three years. One man failed to declare 1.975kg of raw pork fat, 660g of salami, 100g of pork rind, 340g of chicken, 870g of non-eviscerated fish and 350g of other fish. The other failed to declare 2.235kg of pork meat and fat. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said each of the items seized could pose a threat to Australia’s agricultural industries and environment. “We have significant diseases like African swine fever on our doorstep, and a key pathway for threats like these to arrive in Australia is by international passengers bringing in risk items and authorities will not stand for it,” he said. “The punishment must fit the crime and that’s why we introduced legislation to cancel visitor visas when a passenger commits a significant biosecurity breach or repeatedly contravenes our biosecurity laws.” It marks the first visa cancellations since Australia’s borders were effectively closed to international travellers during the COVID pandemic