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War against illicit tobacco products hitting the streets is new frontier for Australian Border Force officers

The war against illicit tobacco products hitting the streets is the new frontier for border force officers tasked with protecting WA. Australian Border Force Assistant Commissioner Chris Waters made the revelation as he stood in front of half a dozen shipping containers full of kilos of tobacco criminals had tried to smuggle into the State. Mr Waters said it was “worrying” officers were still seizing significant numbers of vapes and illicit tobacco products since the government restricted the purchasing of vapes to people over 18 with scripts from pharmacies in October 2024. “The amount of vapes that we are still seizing is very significant, and tobacco, is very large, we’re seizing huge numbers, huge quantities, and that tells us that the organised criminality behind it all is (still) using these commodities to try and make money,” Mr Waters told The West Australian in an exclusive interview marking 10 years of the agency this week. “When you buy a vape, you’re not 100 per cent sure what’s in it, and tobacco, while people might think it’s for them . . . that money is actually (funding) organised crime that might support other criminal activities. “There’s not only the health perspective, but there’s also the organised criminality that the illicit trade is supporting.” The tobacco wars have already wreaked havoc on the east coast, resulting in shootings and firebombings. That same underworld trade has already started to trickle into the west. Last year the ABF joined forces with the Department of Health and WA Police to disrupt an alleged tobacco crime ring operating out of Perth. Police allege the business enterprise had links to Middle Eastern criminal syndicates and possibly outlaw motorcycle gangs. In 50 search warrants over three days, officers seized 5.9 million illicit cigarettes, 1.4 tonnes of loose illicit tobacco, $1.7 million in cash, 1.4 tonnes of loose illicit tobacco, 41,000 vapes and cars worth more than $500,000. Nine people were charged over the haul. The investigation was sparked after a series of Perth arson attacks linked to the underworld tobacco trade, in scenes eerily similar to the firebombings plaguing Melbourne smoke shops. The ABF have seized more than 10 million kilos of illicit tobacco products since 2015, which they estimated stopped $10 billion from ending in the pockets of criminals. The WA Department of Health says it has seized about $5.8m worth of vapes since January last year. On Friday, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said police were working with the Health Department to identify shops selling illegal tobacco. “I’ve got a bit of a plan with the Department of Health — I’m not going to outline that to you today, because I think it would give a heads up to the organised criminals, but we are very much focused on the criminal side of that problem,” he said. “I would say, not only tobacco, it is nangs and it is vapes. It’s shops who are selling things under their front counter, which organised crime will infiltrate and stand over and cause massive harm to our community. “That’s our angle that we are coming from.” Meanwhile, Mr Waters admits WA’s coastline — the largest in the nation — remains challenging to protect. The ABF projects a 50 per cent increase in international passengers arriving and departing Australia while a 70 per cent increase in cargo consignments are expected over the next decade. Approved applications for expanded border services at Wyndham, Ashburton and Dampier — which allows goods to enter WA as the first port of entry — means more officers will need to be on high alert as more potential routes for smugglers open. And the 2017 seizure of 1.2 tonnes of methamphetamine in Geraldton — worth more than $1b on the street and used for at least 12 million individual deals — proves regional towns are hot targets for smugglers putting the community at risk. At the time, it was the nation’s biggest-ever drug bust. Sixty bags of meth were collected by a 16-metre vessel, Valkoista, which departed Geraldton to meet an Asian-based fishing trawler in international waters, about 300 nautical miles from WA’s coast. Police pounced when the boat eventually made it back to Geraldton, as the waiting shore party tried to transfer the drugs to a white van. A total of eight people were convicted of their role in importing the drugs. Criminal gangs across the country with connections to outlaw motorcycle gangs and triad criminal groups had joined forces to execute the import, according to the AFP. “To seize that in such a small port, and to be able to get our officers there . . . lives have been saved by taking those drugs off the street,” Mr Waters said. “I have intel offices there, embedded (across) the regions that (have) that deep knowledge of the cargo system. “And they use that risk assessment approach driven by data about which vessels have a higher risk than others. “Of the cases in the past, we’ve seen that people, onshore criminal syndicates, have come and purchased boats for cash. “It had been clear to industry (there is something suspicious) who have then reported it to us that they had been unable to drive boats. “That community engagement is really important.” Mr Waters remains confident the ABF are “one step ahead” of criminal syndicates but admitted more needs to be done. “We’re going to have to use technology better. We’re gonna have to use equipment as things come online a lot better, and we’ll have to work with industry a lot more closely about how we send, how we utilise our resources,” he said. “As new innovations come on board we need to adapt with them, because the one thing we know is that criminal syndicates are very good at adapting, so they will always adapt against our control. “We have to be one step ahead. “The number of seizures that we’ve had the last 10 years indicates, ‘yes’ (we are one step ahead). “Is there more work to be done? Absolutely.”

The West Australian exclusiveWar against illicit tobacco products hitting the streets is new frontier for Australian Border Force officers

exclusive
War against illicit tobacco products hitting the streets is new frontier for Australian Border Force officers