27/08/2024
Australian Border Force (ABF) officers seized more than 12 million illicit cigarette sticks which were detected inside one single consignment arriving into NSW last week.
The shipment, which arrived from China at the Sydney Container Examination Facility on Friday (23 August 2024), had been mis-declared as a vending machine, and had evaded duty estimated at almost $15.3 million.
ABF Commander Ken McKern said the seizure had taken money out of the hands of criminals.
“The Australian Border Force is targeting and seizing record levels of illicit tobacco at the border, which serves as a significant deterrent to those involved in the illegal importation of tobacco into Australia,” Commander McKern said.
“There is a common misconception that engaging in the illicit tobacco trade is a victimless crime, but it is far from it.
“Involvement in illicit tobacco is a serious offence. There are well documented links between the distribution and sale of illicit tobacco in Australia and serious and organised crime syndicates.
“Organised crime syndicates use illicit tobacco income to fund other illicit activities that cause significant harm to our community – such as illicit drugs.
“Organised crime syndicates pressure tobacco retailers across Australia to buy and sell their illicit product. They use gangs to enforce compliance including torching tobacco shops, stand over tactics and shootings.
“Evading excise duty on tobacco also costs the community millions of dollars that could be spent on essential community services.”
Interim Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette (ITEC) Commissioner Erin Dale said buying illicit tobacco and e-cigarettes is a crime that funds and supports organised criminal syndicates to undertake other serious criminal activities.
“Criminal groups peddling illicit tobacco pose a significant risk to the safety of Australians and they can only be targeted and defeated if our enforcement efforts are as cohesive as possible; I am working to ensure this is the case,” ITEC Commissioner Dale said.
“The ABF and their partners continue to work together to identify, disrupt and prosecute those responsible for causing harm in the community by trading in illicit tobacco but this threat cannot be defeated by law enforcement alone.
“At a community level, we need to reduce the demand for all illicit commodities, and I remind people that by purchasing illicit cigarettes, you are directly supporting organised crime.”
In the 2023/24 Financial Year (FY), the ABF made more than 51,600 detections of illicit tobacco consisting of more than 1.8 billion cigarettes and more than 436 tonnes of loose leaf tobacco.
These enforcement actions have deprived organised crime syndicates of an estimated $3 billion dollars (potential evaded duty).
The penalties for smuggling tobacco are severe and can include up to 10 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to five times the amount of duty evaded.