Irish backpacker fined over steroids

June 28, 2006

A 22-year-old Irishman on a working holiday in Australia has been fined more than $5000 after being convicted of smuggling steroids.

The Australian Customs Service today said Brendan Carter arrived in Cairns on a flight from Thailand on May 11 ticking "no" to all the questions on the incoming-passenger card.

The first question asks if passengers are carrying any steroid products.

Carter's bags were x-rayed and then fully searched by a Customs officer who found 1000 tablets of Dianabol concealed in shoes and 24 vials of Nandralone in a plastic bag.

Both drugs are considered performance enhancing and are subject to prohibitions and restrictions.

Carter, who was travelling to Australia on a 12-month working holiday, pleaded guilty to one count of importing a prohibited import and two counts of making a false statement.

He appeared in the Cairns Magistrates' Court yesterday and was fined $4500, and was ordered to pay $1106 in court costs.