MELBOURNE, Australia - Customs officers thought there was something fishy about the baggage of a flight attendant arriving in Australia from Vietnam. They were right.

The man, whose identity was not released, was found to have 16 highly endangered Asian Arowana fish in water-filled plastic bags hidden in his luggage, customs officials said Friday.

The 26-year-old flight attendant just got off a plane from Vietnam at Melbourne International airport when customs officers spotted something unusual in an X-ray and decided to search his bags, regional customs manager Geoff Johannes said in a statement.

The man faces a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $87,000 if convicted of smuggling wildlife into Australia. Johannes said officials expect to charge him once they have finished their investigations.

"The fish found by customs are listed ... as being highly endangered," Johannes said. "In addition to the protection of endangered species, the fish could have been carrying diseases."

Australia has some of the world's toughest quarantine laws, to protect its unique flora and fauna from imported diseases.
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Nice job done by the Aussies. Alien spieces brought to other enviroments really mess things up. All countries should learn a thing or two from Australia.

customs WILL find you... you can't slip anything past them... especially fish... did he not expect them to Xray his bag?? or what the fish wouldnt show up cuzz they were in bags??...hes stupid...he would have made TONS of money if he did make it but instead hes gonna be paying tons of money because he didnt

Hey, some fish stores over here sells asian arowanas. They're really pricey too. I wonder if anyone is going to crack down on them. I use to own some arowanas, but one was a silver one and the other was an australian.

Did anyone see that episode of the Simpsons when Bart brought a frog to Australia...or was it England...either way, it was very entertaining.

Back on topic: There seems to be a large amount of people trying to smuggle wildlife these days.

Yeah, i saw that episode, hahaha. The frogs started eating everything and a Koala attached itself to the helicopter.

Lol, I saw that one to. GO SIMPSONS!

pretty stupid if he didnt expect them to check th luggage lol

Wouldn't the X-rays have affected the fish in some way?

Go Aussie custom official go!

Letting foreign species of plant or animal life into the australian wilderness could do severe damage to our very unique environemnt! Luckily this guy was caught and really there was never any doubt about it, we are damn good at stopping this sort of thing happening!

my dad used to work for the quarantine department, and said it was amazing how ignorant people were signing their declaration form.. it says what you can and cannot bring into the country, that you will be fined etc.. but people will always try.
one old codger had a huge paddy when my dad took his wooden walking stick off him because it had its bark all over it still. he was told he could either whittle the bark off, or leave it at the airport to be fumigated.. well.. he (the old man) called tv stations and newspapers, all because he couldnt have his stick.. and that is only one of the many loverly ppl that come thru
what ppl dont understand is the devestation any new thing that comes in can do. be it flora or fauna. i am so, so, very glad we dont have rabies here (touches wood) amongst other diseases too.
another thing that really sh1ts me to no end, is when ppl try and steal our native wildlife. they stuff insects and snakes in socks, then into boxes with no real protection food or drinking water.. conceal birds eggs on their person, most of the time the eggs are destroyed. stuff parrots into their luggage etc. it is a cruel and tortorous thing to do