HK$48,430 for roast pork lunchbox: Taiwan fines passenger from Hong Kong for bringing in banned meat
- Traveller was carrying lunchbox filled with Cantonese-style meats, including pork, which is banned due to African swine fever concerns
- Customs dog sniffed out food and passenger was issued fine but deported after being unable to pay
An Indonesian passenger travelling from Hong Kong to Taiwan has been deported after being unable to pay a NT$200,000 (HK$48,430) fine for bringing in a lunchbox with roast pork, contravening import regulations, local media has reported.
The traveller arrived in Taipei on April 30 with the lunchbox containing a combination of Cantonese-style roast meats, news outlets reported on Sunday.
From a picture posted online, the food included rice with roast pork and soy sauce chicken, both typical Cantonese dishes.
A customs detector dog sniffed out the contraband and alerted its handlers. The visitor was fined NT$200,000 on the spot for the undeclared pork.
But the individual was unable to pay the penalty immediately and was deported and instructed to settle the fine before entering Taiwan again, the media reports said.
Taiwanese authorities have imposed strict controls on the import of pork from areas where cases of African swine fever have been detected since 2018.
The fine for a first offence is NT$200,000, increasing to NT$1 million for subsequent transgressions.
An official from Taiwan’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency told local media that passengers could throw out any banned items they had mistakenly brought in using disposal bins before immigration control.
“You can dispose of them there or declare them at our animal and plant quarantine counters,” the official said. “Whether you choose to declare them voluntarily or dispose of them, there will be no criminal liability involved.”
