“I said, this is gonna sound like a line, but I’ve never seen that apple before in my life.”
Initially perplexed as to how the fruit got in the bag he realised that he may have packed the apple when he was in South Africa “months ago” before going on a hike with his kids.
Blake and Lee both expressed amazement over how the apple had travelled across the world before being found at New Zealand Customs and biosecurity.
“I’ve flown it across the ocean, across Australia, I’ve nested it, I’ve sat on it, I’ve incubated it and now I’ve brought it to New Zealand as a gift for the New Zealand people, from South Africa,” said Blake.
The “kind of waxy” apple wasn’t rotten, but was spongy, said the Lego Masters Australia host.
The 43-year-old received a $400 fine for not declaring the apple.
Blake was told the mishap appears on his record, but expressed some confusion over what that meant.
Biosecurity Security New Zealand keeps an internal record of passengers who have received infringement notices.
“If we observe a pattern of non-compliance, we may place an ‘alert’ on the passenger, which can lead to increased scrutiny during future arrivals into New Zealand”, said Biosecurity New Zealand northern regional commissioner Mike Inglis.
Alerts are only placed on “serious” non-declarations such as large quantities of goods, or items that appeared to be deliberately concealed, he said.
A $400 biosecurity infringement fine for unintentionally failing to declare a risk item – such as an apple – is not a criminal conviction and is not recorded as one, said Inglis.
