Importing eggs cost woman more than $45,000

The eggs had not been sterilised and there was still dirt and faeces on some of them. Photo / Thinkstock

Importing live eggs covered in dirt without declaring them has cost a New Plymouth woman more than $45,000.

Chicken enthusiast Karen Joanne Legget, 52, bought live eggs in eBay auctions from vendors in Scotland, England and Wales, and then had them delivered to a friend's address in England.

Her friend then repackaged them and falsely declared them as "chocolate eggs" on a UK customs form.

Three separate packages were identified as "risk material" by x-ray and intercepted in January 2012 at the Auckland International Mail Centre.

The Ministry for Primary Industries said the eggs had not been sterilised and there was still dirt and faeces on some of them.

Legget was sentenced on Friday, after earlier being found guilty of three Biosecurity Act charges of knowingly possessing unauthorised goods, at a judge-only trial in March.

Judge Charles Blackie fined Leggett $15,000 on each charge and $630 costs - $45,630 in total.

Northern Investigations Manager David Blake said she put the poultry industry and wild bird populations at "considerable risk" by attempting to illegally import live eggs for her hobby.

He said it was a deliberate and calculated attempt to avoid New Zealand's biosecurity measures by someone who understood the system.

"She put the poultry industry and wild bird populations at considerable risk in order to hatch eggs for her own enjoyment. The serious nature of her actions has been reflected in the sentence."