A woman picked up a Subway sandwich in the Singapore airport before her flight to Perth, Australia. She only ate half of it – and for some reason brought the leftovers with her. Perhaps she wanted to find out first hand just how sick an unrefrigerated fast food sandwich will make you after a five hour flight.
She failed to declare the remains of her foot long at customs when she arrived back in Australia, and was fined ~ US$1750.
In a video posted to social media, the woman acknowledges her mistake. She had taken a flight back from Europe and was connecting. And she wasn’t thinking clearly when she claimed not to be bringing any food into the country. She offered that the thought “the little declaration thing you do is for your carry-ons and your luggage” so she “didn’t tick chicken” and she “didn’t tick lettuce” on the agriculture disclosure.
But she’s tight on cash – she quit her job before her trip abroad, and the fine and her rent are both due at about the same time. The Aussies take agriculture declarations seriously. And occasionally bureaucrats on power trips apply rules formulaically rather than applying reason to the circumstance. A subway sandwich from the Singapore airport is probably safer than much of what’s already in the country.
Indeed, customs officers acknowledged discretion which she says they were choosing not to extend to her, offering that foreigners often don’t get fined because of the “language barrier” while she was facing full enforcement because she “speak[s] perfect English.”
@_jessicaleeee Australian government tings 🥰🥰 starting that OF back up again to SURVIVE the next few months #fyp #australia #subway #boujee ♬ original sound – Jessica Lee
Here’s her Instagram where she appears to specialize in posting photos of herself wearing very little clothing (yet has surprisingly few followers).
In 2018 a woman was fined $500 and lost her global entry after taking an apple off of a Delta flight and failing to declare it. Though she got the fine waived and global entry restored after contacting her congressional representative’s office.
