THE AUSTRALIAN Border Force (ABF) has seized more than 45 million cigarettes in a five-day period from ten separate sea cargo consignments.
Almost 6500 kilograms of tobacco was detected and seized from the period of 14 September to 18 September, the ABF said.
The consignments, received from China, the UAE, Singapore, India, and Vietnam, were misdeclared as miscellaneous items, with seven having arrived at the Sydney Container Examination Facility, and three at the Melbourne Container Examination Facility.
The ABF said the ten consignments represent an estimated evaded excise duty of approximately $75,305,539, with all of the product having been seized to be destroyed.
ABF commander Ken McKern said each seizure of illicit tobacco and cigarettes reduces the money going into criminal syndicate’s pockets.
“We are seizing more illicit tobacco at the border than ever before, with tens of millions of cigarette sticks seized weekly,” Mr McKern said.
“As the supply and demand for this product continues to grow, this grows the organised crime syndicates interest and involvement in the black market.
“Organised crime syndicates see the illicit tobacco trade as a low risk, high reward market – they use their profits to fund other illicit activities and attempt to import other illegal substances into Australia.”
In the 2023-24 financial year, the ABF says it made more than 51,600 detections of illegal tobacco, consisting of more than 1.8 billion cigarettes and over 436 tonnes of loose leaf tobacco.
The ABF claims the enforcements to have deprived organised crime syndicates of an estimated $3 billion dollars in 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.
