$2.1 million find in back of truck highlights 'insane' Aussie problem

Highway authorities have uncovered a $2.1 million haul after pulling over a rental truck and questioning the driver who told police he was transporting furniture. Suspicious of his claim, what they actually uncovered speaks to a growing underbelly in Australia.

Camden Highway Patrol in NSW stopped the vehicle on Wednesday afternoon when the driver claimed he was moving the furniture between addresses in Victoria and Sydney. However when officers looked in the back, they found 7,000 sealed cartons of Manchester Sapphire Blue cigarettes.

Images show large boxes marked 'fragile' and 'Made in China' stacked in the back of the vehicle. In total, there was 1.4million cigarettes worth more than $2 million.

"The male driver from Victoria was placed under arrest and conveyed to Narellan Police Station," police said in a statement on Friday. He was charged with possession of the illicit tobacco and other offences.

"He was refused bail to appear before the courts on a later date this month."

The bust is simply the latest in a crackdown on the illegal tobacco industry that has run wild in recent years, with soaring federal taxes on cigarettes blamed for fuelling the trade.

Billion dollar underworld problem fuelled by 'pure insanity'

After years of hiking the Commonwealth's tobacco excise, the tax jumped 6.9 per cent at the start of this month, with the rate indexed to average weekly ordinary-time earnings.

A report from an inquiry by the Victorian government was tabled in August which estimated the tobacco black market was worth $6 billion in the state, made up of illegal cigarettes, vapes and other tobacco products. The report found the higher tax excise had made legal tobacco "prohibitively expensive", coupled with inflation and cost‑of‑living pressures.

A spate of tobacco store firebombings in the past year has brought the issue into the spotlight, highlighting the industry’s infiltration by organised crime groups, particularly in Victoria which is the only state or territory without a tobacco licensing scheme. In total, there have been 97 arson attacks on Victorian businesses selling tobacco since March 2023, according to police.

Theo Foukkare, the chief executive of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores recently hit out at the constant tax hikes as a move to deter people from smoking as "pure insanity" arguing it incentivises smokers and vapers to buy from the black market.

"(Victoria) is burning as illicit tobacco turf wars rage on and now we have the federal government quite literally adding fuel to the fire because of this short-sighted tax grab," he said.

In the 2022-2023 financial year, the Australian Border Force seized more than 2,000 tonnes of tobacco for the first time, a jump from 1,600 tonnes the previous year. That was almost equivalent to the quantities seized in the three years before that combined.

Crime syndicates, believed to be personnel from Middle Eastern organised crime groups and outlaw motorcycle gangs, are fighting over control of the sector’s massive profits.

with AAP

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