Australian Border Force
Camera IconAustralian Border Force Credit: Supplied/Australian Border Force

Man charged over alleged illegal cigarettes

Staff WriterCanning Gazette

A TAIWANESE national has been charged by Australian Border Force (ABF) officers in Perth as part of an investigation into an alleged nationwide cigarette smuggling operation.

ABF officers arrested the 28-year-old man soon after he arrived at a Welshpool courier depot to pick up three large cardboard boxes yesterday afternoon.

The arrest was sparked by a public tip-off to Border Watch.

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It will be alleged the boxes contained 145 cartons of mostly Chinese-made cigarettes and the spare wheel recess in the boot of the man’s car contained another 32 cartons.

The 35,400 cigarettes would attract excise duty of about $28,950 if imported illegally.

Some of the seized cigarettes. Australian Border Force
Camera IconSome of the seized cigarettes. Australian Border Force Credit: Supplied/Supplied

The man was accused of having conveyed or having in his possession, goods that were tobacco products, reckless as to whether the goods were imported with the intent to defraud the revenue under the Customs Act 1901.

The man is currently in Australia on a student dependent visa.

He was due to appear in the Perth Magistrates Court today.

ABF Investigations WA superintendent Clint Sims said it would be alleged the man had been purchasing illegally imported cigarettes from a supplier in another state and selling them on the black market in WA.

“Investigations continue into what we believe is a nationwide cigarette smuggling operation,” Superintendent Sims said.

“The ABF is targeting all levels of tobacco smuggling – whether it be by organised crime syndicates, local profiteers or individuals stockpiling personal use supplies.”

Image
Camera IconImage Credit: Supplied/Stock image.

The maximum penalty for this offence is five years imprisonment, a fine not exceeding the $28,950, or both.

The illicit tobacco market in Australia is worth about $600 million a year in evaded revenue.

Anyone with information on the importation of illicit tobacco is encouraged to contact Border Watch at www.Australia.gov.au/borderwatch.

New tobacco import requirements from July 1 included classifying most tobacco products as prohibited imports, and a issued permit is required by the Department of Home Affairs to import tobacco into Australia.

For more information visit, www.abf.gov.au/tobacco.

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