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A chain of alternative-style shops has fallen foul of quirky rules about importing pipes for smoking cannabis.
Possession of a pipe is an offence, and so is importing complete pipes.
But Customs rules say that if the pipes are shipped as parts in separate batches, importing them is legal.
In the Christchurch District Court yesterday, Judge Colin Doherty said Cosmic Corner, which has several shops nationally, had tried to "shave" its costs by bringing pipes in disassembled but in the same batch.
Customs prosecutor Barnaby Hawes told the court the company had been prosecuted for a similar offence in 2005. It had been fined $500, and warned that another breach would result in a tougher fine.
Judge Doherty fined the company $1200 and ordered it to pay court costs and solicitor's fees totalling $380.
Cosmic Corner's lawyer, Pip Hall said the pipes, worth about $8000, had also been forfeited.
The company imported four boxes of small metallic items and wooden bowls from the United States.
The import entry described them as "parts of pipes".
Customs officers seized them and later assembled them into 1100 pipes which Judge Doherty described as "bongs, hash pipes or head pipes".
- NZPA
