About 19,000 steroid tablets were discovered after an operation that
began on January 10 when Australian Customs Service officers at a
Sydney mail centre chose a package from Thailand for random
examination.
The package was addressed to Queensland and contained chips, noodles
and biscuit packets. But X-rays and a closer inspection of the biscuit packets revealed
foil bags containing 12,000 steroid tablets.
Customs investigators arrested a 37-year-old woman in the
inner-western Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove last Friday.
They also searched a car and an apartment in Wynnum on Brisbane's
bayside.
During the searches, investigators allegedly found another 7000
steroid tablets, a 100ml bottle of liquid and 37 glass vials
containing a liquid which have yet to be identified.
The woman has been charged with importing prohibited imports and was
bailed to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on January 20.
Australian Customs said that in Australia, performance and
image-enhancing drugs could only be imported with previous
permission from the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
The maximum penalty for importing performance-enhancing drugs of
this type is up to five years in jail and/or a $110,000 fine.
1 7 - 0 1 - 2 0 0 6
Woman arrested over snack box of steroids
Patrick Watson
18jan06
The Courier-Mail
thecouriermail.news.com.au
A WYNNUM woman, 37, has been arrested at an Ashgrove post office
box
after allegedly trying to import steroids in a box full of
biscuits,
noodles and chips.
The package contained 12,000 human steroid tablets.
Customs officers later found 7000 more steroid tablets, a 100ml
bottle of liquid and 37 glass vials full of a substance thought
to
be testosterone in the woman's apartment.
Regional director for Customs Queensland, Robert Viles, said the
package was initially sent from Thailand and was intercepted in
Sydney before being sent up to Queensland Customs.
"On what I've been told it's safe to say what you've got there
is
worth tens of thousands of dollars, perhaps as much as $50,000,"
Mr
Viles said.
Steroids are generally smuggled into the country to be sold on
the
blackmarket to body-builders and athletes.
"It was X-rayed in Sydney and discovered there and because it
was to
be delivered to an address in Brisbane it was sent up here," Mr
Vile
said.
"(She was) arrested at the post office. The delivery was allowed
to
proceed so we could see who was importing goods."
Another customs agent said it was the biggest steroid seize in
months.
Mr Viles said Thailand was a common point of origin for imported
steroids because people can buy them without prescriptions.
"We get these sorts of things out of Thailand on a regular
basis,"
he said.
Despite it being a commercial haul, Mr Vile said he did not
think
Australian Customs would pursue the matter back to Thailand.
The maximum penalty for importing performance and image
enhancing
drugs is up to five years in jail with the possibility of a
$110,000
fine.
The woman will appear in the Brisbane Magistrate's Court on
Friday.
[Link]
[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
