A Canterbury nursery and its director have been fined $42,500 after illegally removing imported plants from quarantine.

Elliott Wholesale Nursery Limited and its director, Jeffrey Wayne Elliott, were sentenced today in the Christchurch District Court after pleading guilty to breaching the Biosecurity Act.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said Elliott, aged 65, took 220 imported plants out of quarantine after just one day, despite regulations requiring a three-month quarantine period.

The plants were Nandina domestica, an evergreen shrub imported from Australia in September 2022.

Gerald Anderson, MPI’s Regional Manager for Investigations South, said, “Mr Elliott is highly experienced and knew the quarantine regulations. These rules are there for a reason – to protect New Zealand from any potential pests and diseases which could be a risk to our biosecurity.”

Elliott Wholesale Nursery is a registered Post Entry Quarantine (PEQ) facility, meaning it is responsible for ensuring that imported plants remain in quarantine for the mandatory period. However, instead of adhering to the rules, Elliott replaced the 220 imported plants with similar-looking domestic ones to avoid detection. He later admitted this to an employee who had questioned him.

An MPI inspector conducted an audit of the nursery and, at the time, believed the substituted plants were the original imported ones, allowing the nursery to pass the inspection. However, Elliott later admitted to MPI investigators that he knew he had broken the law, although he declined to be formally interviewed.

Despite the breach, MPI confirmed that no pests or diseases were found on the plants removed from the quarantine facility.

The prosecution was led by MPI, which said the case underlined the importance of adhering to biosecurity measures to protect New Zealand’s environment and agriculture from potential risks.