Actress Amber Heard, who is also the wife of Johnny Depp, has been issued a summons to appear in a Queensland court this September, having been charged with a biosecurity breach after illegally bringing the couple’s dogs Pistol and Boo into Australia on a private jet earlier this year, a move which sparked the ire of Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce.
Reports the ABC, Heard has been charged with two counts of illegal importation contrary to the quarantine act and one count of producing a false document and will need to appear at Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland on September 7th. If found guilty, penalties for the offences reportedly include fines of up to $100,000 or up to 10 years imprisonment.
Arguable now the world’s moist famous Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo made global headlines earlier this year when Barnaby Joyce appeared to threaten the two dogs with death for arriving on our shores illegally, proclaiming that it was time they “buggered off back to the United States” or else face euthanasia.
Once the dogs were safely back in the States, Heard, who stars in new film Magic Mike XXL, publicly criticised Joyce for his comments, saying, “I have a feeling we’re going to avoid the land Down Under from now on, just as much as we can thanks to certain politicians there.
“I don’t know, I guess everyone tries to go for their 15 minutes [of fame], including some government officials,” she added pointedly.
According to News Corp, while Heard did not appear at the Sydney premiere for her new movie, she has since returned to Australia and is with Depp on the Gold Coast where he is filming for Pirates Of The Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
