Brisbane couple fined for illegally importing steroids

May 26, 2007

A Brisbane couple have been fined more than $14,000 for importing anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (HGH).

Glen John Purtell, 44, and Diane Lesley Shipway, 39, both of Albany Creek, Queensland, pleaded guilty in Brisbane Magistrates Court to 22 counts of importing the substances.

They were fined $7,000 each plus courts costs.

Customs spokesman Richard Janeczko (Janeczko) said charges against the couple were laid after two raids in Everton Hills and Albany Creek where officers found 11 boxes containing a total of 110 vials of HGH, all of which were seized.

Authorities had been alerted after a parcel from Portugal containing the hormones, which cannot be imported without a permit from the Therapeutic Goods Administration, was detected at the Sydney International Mail Centre.

On Monday this week, Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone was fined $2,975 in a Sydney court for bringing 46 vials of banned hormones into Australia and possessing four vials of testosterone for his own personal use.