An Adelaide court has issued a significant fine to two brothers today found guilty of importing nearly a tonne of illicit tobacco into Australia intended to be sold through small grocery stores throughout South Australia.
Both brothers were both fined $250,000 each and received a suspended 15-month sentence, after being charged under the Customs Act by the Australian Border Force (ABF) with importing tobacco with the intention of defrauding revenue.
The charges came from an investigation in 2020 when the ABF-led Illicit Tobacco Taskforce (ITTF) searched a shipping container in Adelaide and located more than 660kg of illicit tobacco products.
As a result, ABF Regional Investigations in South Australia executed a warrant under the Customs Act on a number of homes and businesses in Adelaide, where officers seized a further 300kg of illicit tobacco and $547,510 in cash.
ABF Chief Superintendent Bart England said record levels of illicit tobacco were being seized at the border, and the penalty served as a strong deterrent to those involved.
“There is common misconception that engaging in the illicit tobacco trade is a victimless crime, but it is far from it. Aside from the well-known health impacts of smoking, buying illicit tobacco is a crime,” Chief Superintendent England said.
“It funds organised criminal syndicates and supports them to undertake other serious criminal activities that harm Australian society.
“In the 2022/23 financial year, ABF recorded more than 120,000 detections of illicit tobacco consisting of more than 1.7 billion cigarettes and more than 867 tonnes of loose leaf tobacco.
“These enforcement actions have deprived organised crime syndicates of an estimated $3.46 billion dollars in potential evaded duty, with the sustained efforts by authorities being heavily disruptive to syndicates’ business models.”
The Illicit Tobacco Taskforce was established in 2018 as one of the tobacco-related measures in response to the Government’s Black Economy Package.
