Australian police found a gold-plated gun in an American passenger's suitcase at Sydney airport.
The American woman who flew from Los Angeles did not have a firearms license, the Australian Border Police (ABF) said. She can get up to 10 years in prison.
"Once again we see how good ABF officers are at finding illegal and highly dangerous items and preventing them from being brought into Australia," ABF Commander Justin Bathurst said.
The 28-year-old woman was charged and appeared before the local court yesterday, where she was granted bail. She is threatened with cancellation of her visa and deportation from Australia, reports CNN.
Air passengers on domestic flights in the United States can travel with a firearm, provided it is unloaded and locked in a hard container in the hold of the plane. Passengers must also notify airline officials during check-in that they are carrying a weapon.
In contrast, Australia has very strict gun laws that were enacted after the Tasmanian massacre in 1996 when a gunman killed 35 people.
After the attack, all automatic and semi-automatic weapons were banned, and about 600.000 weapons were forcibly purchased from their owners.
