Drugs seized at Aussie airports

With the Olympic Games three weeks away, Customs officers on Friday announced seizures at two Australian airports of drugs containing the stimulant ephedrine.

Customs spokesman Leon Bedington said 14 tablets of MaHuang, a Chinese herb used as a stimulant or energy-booster, were seized at Perth airport on Wednesday after a passenger declared the tablets but did not have a prescription for them.

Bedington would not comment on an Australian Broadcasting Corp radio report that the passenger was a South African Olympic swimming coach.

"Based on the normal concentration of ephedrine in these tablets, 14 tablets would contain about 0.01 grams of ephedrine," Bedington said, adding that the substance was widely available over the counter in other countries.

Earlier reports by ABC radio had said around 500 tablets were seized.

Bedington said 160 tablets of "a similar product" were seized at Brisbane airport on Thursday.

He stressed that MaHuang, also called Hydroxycut, was not classified as a performance enhancing drug under customs law. It can be imported in small quantities if accompanied by a physician's prescription.

If no prescription is presented, the drugs are seized and no further action taken, Bedington said.

"In this case, as with many others every day, there has been no breach of Customs legislation," he told reporters.

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