Boxes stacked high, one after another, front to back in a fully laden shipping container. Just one glance reveals the contents are highly sought after on the black market, yet there’s no attempt at hiding it.
More than 1.7 billion illegal cigarettes were seized across Australia in the past financial year, according to Border Force. Since July this year, there have been more than 350 million seized, much of it arriving from ports in Asia and the Middle East., the cigarettes that make it through undetected are bound for the lit end of a match – either in the hands of a smoker or an arsonist.
One of the weapons used to uncover any illegitimate shipments is X-ray technology that can peek inside the contents of a shipping container. Often they are not sure what they are looking for, but with keen eyes they will sometimes find weapons, drugs and other contraband – even cars trying to circumvent import duties.Nine News
The penalties for importing large amounts of illegal tobacco are much lower than for drugs such as cocaine, making it an attractive volume business for syndicates who then use the profits to fund other crime. “We see counterfeit cigarettes made and produced for a black market, we’ve also seen legitimate cigarettes that are sold in places that don’t have any regulations ,” Sims said this week.Victoria Police recently introduced the Lunar Taskforce to combat the growing illegal tobacco trade and war for control among rival crime groups, which has
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