Australian Border Force (ABF) officers have seized more than 123 tonnes of illicit tobacco at the border in just two months, after new regulations came into effect declaring the commodity a prohibited import.
The 123 tonnes consisted of more than 87 tonnes of illicit loose leaf/molasses tobacco and 47.9 million cigarettes, which was all seized between 1 July 2019 and 31 August 2019.
Large detections include a seizure of more than five tonnes of loose leaf tobacco at the Container Examination Facility in Victoria. This consignment, from Indonesia, was concealed inside sachets declared as tea. It represents more than $5.7 million in evaded duty.
Officers at the Sydney Container Examination Facility also identified a consignment of more than two million cigarettes from Vietnam, which was concealed within wooden doors. This detection represents more than $1.8 million in evaded duty.
On 1 July 2019, it became illegal for anyone to import tobacco without a permit, or in contravention of permit conditions. Tobacco can no longer be imported through the mail stream.
The new regulations are a further deterrent to the trade in illicit tobacco, which funds serious and organised crime within our community.
ABF Assistant Commissioner, Port Operations Command, Erin Dale, said the message was obviously not getting through.
"On top of the larger detections, our officers around the country are still seizing hundreds of smaller packages of tobacco every single day," Assistant Commissioner Dale said.
"The people importing these packages are wasting their money. Our officers can very easily identify tobacco through a range of detection methodologies they have at their disposal – and when they find it, it will be destroyed.
"The new regulations, coupled with the efforts of our officers at the border, make it harder for criminal groups to defraud the Commonwealth and Australian taxpayers. They also protect Australian revenue, and secure the essential community services that Australians rely on. We will not stop in our efforts to combat this trade."
Last financial year, the ABF detected more than 300 tonnes of illicit tobacco and 426 million cigarette sticks. This represents an estimated evaded duty of $633 million.
The ABF leads the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce (ITTF) that is focused on targeting, disrupting and dismantling criminal syndicates who trade in illicit tobacco.
It combines the operational, investigative and intelligence capabilities of the ABF, Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Department of Home Affairs, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP).
Anyone with information on the importation of illicit tobacco is encouraged to contact Border Watch at Australia.gov.au/borderwatch. This can be done anonymously.
