Cigarettes smuggled into Australia in children's toys: police

The 35-year-old man incurs up to ten years of imprisonment for smuggling of tobacco and up to five for charges relating to unpaid import duties.

Sydney International Mail Gateway Workers Identified Numerous Batches of Illegal Imported Cigarettes

ABF's Investigation Commander, Graeme Grosse, stated that the operation seized 350,000 illegal cigarettes and 1,200 kg of tobacco, $ 1.5 million in unpaid import taxes

. "The FBA seeks to disrupt the illicit tobacco market and this operation shows that we not only have the ability to detect these imports at the border, but also to identify the people involved."

According to the Border Forces, the illicit tobacco market in Australia accounts for about $ 600 million a year in avoided revenues.

A KPMG report The first year, the Australian government lost $ 1.6 billion a year for unpaid taxes on cigarettes and tobacco illegally imported into the country.

Last September, two tobacconists in Bondi Junction imposed a record fine of $ 72,000.

The men and women of Free Choice Tobacconist were found guilty of 36 offenses related to tobacco, with a fine of $ 1,000 per head

They are also banned from selling cigarettes until next month.

At the time, e CEO of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores, Jeff Rogut, said that there was a "burgeoning" trade in illegal cigarettes

Loading

took advantage of the loopholes that exist around the regulation of illegal tobacco, and literally drove trucks loaded with contraband through these gaps, "he said.

"Trade is booming – and cigarettes"