Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone was charged in an Australian court today with trying to import human growth hormone into the country.

The Rocky and Rambo star was not in court in Sydney when the Australian Customs Service accused him of trying to bring 48 vials of the banned muscle-building hormone into the country when he visited last month on his private jet.

Court documents said Jintropin, which contains the active ingredient somatropin, a human growth hormone, is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, and is not a recognised treatment for any medical condition.

Somatropin is advertised on the internet as enhancing sexual performance, reducing body fat, increasing energy, removing wrinkles, boosting muscle mass and for the “re-generation of major organs that shrink with age."

The 60-year-old Stallone was in Australia to promote Rocky Balboa, the latest instalment in his series about rags to riches Philadelphia boxer.

After being intercepted at the airport, the actor-director insisted the items seized by customs were not steroids, telling reporters: “It’s something that I’ve taken for years” and “it’s not dangerous."

The maximum fine for the offence is 110,000 Australian dollars (£45,000). Stallone could face a fine of up to 22,000 dollars in the local court system where he was charged, the national AAP news agency reported.

Customs officers said in documents presented to the court that they found five boxes of the growth hormone Jintropin when Stallone arrived in Australia on his jet from the United States on February 16.

It is alleged that Stallone ticked the “no” box on the customs form when asked to declare whether he was bringing in restricted or prohibited goods “such as medicines, steroids, firearms or any kind of illicit drugs”.

Magistrate David Heilern adjourned the case in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court for a plea on April 24.

Stallone, who is said to be in Thailand filming the latest Rambo film, will be excused from attending court if he is represented by his lawyer, Robert Todd.

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