The Malinauskas Labor Government is continuing its tough approach to combatting the illicit tobacco and vape trade with the first illegal tobacco shops shut down under the government's new powers.
Minister Michaels has ordered the closure of five unlicensed stores located in Hindmarsh, Dernancourt, Salisbury North, Blair Athol and Campbelltown after considering evidence of recent illicit activity at the premises.
The Hindmarsh store was the subject of multiple operations with the most recent raid by Consumer and Business Services (CBS) seizing nearly 10,000 illicit cigarettes, 2000 cigarette tubes and half a kilo of tobacco.
The Minister's closure orders apply for 72 hours, with the Minister able to apply to the Magistrates Court for a longer term closure order of up to six months.
Any business who violates such an order can be hit with a penalty of up to $1.1 million and an individual up to $700,000.
The government's new closure powers came into effect on 13 December. They allow the Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs to shut down any business she suspects is selling or supplying illicit tobacco and vapes.
The Minister has wasted no time in shutting down five shops in the first week since the laws commenced and will continue this hardline approach as part of the Malinauskas Government's nation-leading crackdown on the illicit tobacco and vape market with it estimated that organised crime controls 75 per cent of the illicit tobacco market in Australia.
The State Government invested $16 million in a dedicated taskforce within Consumer and Business Services (CBS) to tackle this illicit trade from July 1 and CBS has been working closely with SAPOL's Operation Eclipse as well as Border Force and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to get these illicit products off South Australian streets.
Since then, CBS have been conducting regular inspections and raids and have found that despite being raided, some illicit stores are up and running again almost immediately. These new powers will mean they can be shut down and prevented from trading for up to six months.
We also now have significantly higher penalties relating to the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes of up to $1.5 million in effect.
The Malinauskas Government will continue to stamp out this illicit trade and encourages people to report illegal tobacco or vape dealers via: www.cbs.sa.gov.au/tobacco
As put by Andrea Michaels
The Malinauskas Government is taking the threat posed by the illicit tobacco industry extremely seriously and as warned, we have now closed down multiple businesess after they were caught with illegal tobacco and vapes.
We are not going to allow these illegal shops to operate in our community. We have all seen the danger they bring including to innocent neighbouring businesses and we will not tolerate it in South Australia.
We know that it is increasingly organised crime behind these illegal tobacco shops and we are going to continue to raid these businesses, get these products off the streets and shut these stores down.
