Garlic grower faces jail time over illegal imports.

A Tasmanian garlic grower could face jail time after she illegally imported more than 2000 garlic bulbs from Canada and the United States, packaged under the description of ‘office supplies’.

Letitia Anne Ware has pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated illegal importation of plant material and seven counts of importing conditional non-prohibited goods.

The court heard Ware used several eBay accounts to import Romanian, French and Korean varieties of garlic from Canada and the United States over an 18-month period.

Commonwealth prosecutor Thomas Jones said Ware had instructed suppliers to mis-declare the contents of packages as ‘office supplies’ and break up items to under 150 grams each to avoid quarantine detection.

When police and taxation officers executed a search warrant on Ware's 40-acre property they seized 18 international packages, one containing 400 garlic bulbs.