NZ wine grower sentenced to community detention for smuggling Australian vine cuttings in a suitcase

NZ Herald's Open Justice reports James Millton has been sentenced to five months community detention and fined $15-thousand.

The Ministry for Primary Industries charged him after a Blenheim nursery raised concerns about cuttings he wanted grafted.

Millton admitted illegally importing the grapevine cuttings in his suitcase, failing to declare them, and later planting them in his garden and vineyard.

MPI says his actions risked introducing a suite of pests and diseases that had potential to cripple New Zealand's wine industry.