An Indian-origin woman has been slapped with a hefty fine of 400 dollars by New Zealand customs for not declaring two bottles of cow urine. Border officials fined her after she failed to declare two bottles containing cow urine as part of her luggage after her flight landed in Wellington. The woman was slapped with a fine of 400 New Zealand dollars ($260).
“When the officers started to inspect the contents of the luggage, they found two bottles of cow urine for medicinal purposes,” said Antony Owen, Ministry for Primary Industries central region team manager for border clearance.
Owen said the belief animal products have a healing properties can stop people from thinking they need to declare it. “We probably get things like this because they are related to culture, religion or traditional medicines. When they fall into that category that can cloud people’s judgement sometimes in what they’re declaring,” he was quoted as saying by New Zealand-based 3 News.