An Australian man who smuggled live scorpions into the country has been fined more than $10,000.

An Australian man who smuggled live scorpions into the country will be sentenced today.

Two brothers were yesterday sentenced to 150 hours' community work and two months' community detention after previously admitting charges relating to the possession, sale and disposition of scorpions.

Two brothers have pleaded guilty at the Queenstown District Court to smuggling six live scorpions into New Zealand.

Pamela Wade reminds us what to do when an illegal hitch-hiker comes home with us from an overseas trip.

A Vietnamese air passenger has been charged with smuggling live tropical fish in his trouser pockets after airport staff noticed water dripping down the man's leg.

A prominent agricultural scientist says New Zealand deserves only a half-mark for its biosecurity efforts - and warns that new free-trade agreements and increased tourism could pose a threat at the border.

A world-first trial involving Air New Zealand flights aims to boost biosecurity at the border.

Queenstown, even with its ice and snow, has proved irresistible for at least one Australian import spotted during the seasonal surge of non-native visitors arriving in the resort.

Auckland Airport biosecurity staff have avoided a nasty nipping after finding five live crabs in a Vietnamese passenger's luggage.

Each year more and more imported pork makes its way into the food chain - writes Dita De Boni - mostly through our consumption of cheap processed meat such as luncheon sausage and cheerios.

At a secret location just north of Auckland, an experiment has started which might alter the face of New Zealand's $12 billion dairy industry.

An attempt by an airline passenger to bring two crates of fresh mangoes into NZ could have had dire consequences if the fruit reached our orchards, says border security.

A snake which made its way into New Zealand from Vanuatu has been intercepted at a Manukau scrap yard.

They may be fluffy and cute but Western Bay residents are being warned wallabies are not pets.

Kiwifruit growers are hoping the vine-killing disease Psa will soon be declared an "adverse event".

An Australian ship detained at Wellington's port this week was found to be "crawling with beetles" that had the potential to harm local insect species.

Brian Rudman askes: "Have we really become such a brutal society that an esoteric scientific debate has to be argued with the threat of sledge hammers and dawn raids?"