A woman has been fined $1,300 for twice smuggling a puppy into Bermuda from the United States.

Charlitta Spencer, 30, from Warwick, was caught by Customs the first time she illegally carried the beagle, named Dowie, into the country on June 12.

He was confiscated and returned to the US. However, she brought him back in a second time on July 19 and got away with it until someone tipped off the authorities and he was found at her home on November 5.

Spencer was eventually prosecuted, and pleaded guilty to illegal importation of an animal at Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. On both occasions, she brought the animal in through the airport without declaring she had one with her.

It's thought she may have transported the puppy in her handbag.

According to government vet Jonathan Nisbett, Dowie was aged eight to ten weeks old when Ms Spencer first brought him in without a permit too young to have been vaccinated against rabies.

He explained: "It was intercepted by Customs, we seized the dog and held it for three days and deported the dog back to the US. We thought that was the end of it but approximately four weeks later she brought the same dog in again. Both times she did not declare this to Customs.

"She was successful the second time and did manage to enter Bermuda. We got word of the dog being here. It took a lot of investigation because she had moved from the address she declared on the Customs declaration but we were finally successful and seized the animal and fully investigated the case."

Dr. Nisbett explained that Spencer was prosecuted because she'd been warned on the first occasion, but went on to break the law again.

He said: "The rules are there to protect the public in general, the human as well as the animal population. It's there to prevent disease. The US does have rabies. It's well controlled but animals do go down with it."

Dr. Nisbett added that there was no effective way of testing an animal for the disease, so Bermuda requires animals be vaccinated before they are allowed in.

He also pointed out that there would be no way of tracing anyone who had come into contact with an illegally-imported animal which could give rise to a public health crisis.

"I cannot speak about this particular case and what would motivate someone to do it twice. She was forewarned after the first time. This is a deliberate case of smuggling," he said.

"The animal got sent back the second time. The first time it was sent back into the custody of the owner but the second time I didn't give it back to her. It was sent to a beagle rescue organisation in the Atlanta area and as far as I know it's been adopted out."

Dr. Nisbett thanked H.M Customs for assistance with the investigation.

Summarising the evidence against Spencer in court last Wednesday, prosecutor Nicole Smith said Spencer's actions had jeopardised Bermuda's internationally-recognised rabies-free status.

Collector of Customs Winniefred Fostine-DeSilva was unable to say how Spencer managed to bring the puppy into Bermuda undetected.

"It's a small dog, it's possible she just secreted it in her handbag. It's pretty hard to detect unless you are doing body scans," she told The Royal Gazette. "We do rely on people being compliant with the law."

She admitted: "It raises concern and what we are doing is we have implemented new systems which will be useful in detecting these things."

Ms Fostine DeSilva explained that a new scanner called Terahertz has been used at the airport for the last couple of months. "It's useful in detecting such things. It can tell you if there is anything between a person's body and their clothing."

She added that Spencer still faces action for breaching Customs rules by failing to declare the dog on her forms, but this will be dealt with internally rather than publicly.