‘Menace’: Cops seize $11m vape haul
More than $11m worth of illegal vapes have been seized in just one month, with authorities targeting international mail and air cargo at the Australian border.
The massive haul of illegal products across four states will be a major dent in the vape trade nationally as the federal government seeks to limit rampant vape usage among young people.
Officers from the Australian Border Force and the Therapeutic Goods Administration estimate about 92 per cent of the 32 tonnes of vapes seized were unlawful.
More than 60 per cent of the seized goods were disposable vapes from brands already deemed in breach of the minimum safety and quality standards applied to nicotine vapes.
With a complicated network of unlawful importation and a bevy of tricky concealment techniques, it has been a “significant issue” for the federal government to enforce rules surrounding nicotine vapes, according to Health Minister Mark Butler.
Mr Butler said nicotine vapes entering the country outside a TGA-pathway were considered to pose a “significant public health risk” for young Australians in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Vaping is a public health menace that is targeting young Australians,” he said.
As per a Department of Health and Aged Care study conducted in March this year, 34 per cent of people vaping in Australia are aged under 25.
Alluding to the federal government’s push to decrease vaping rates in Australia, he said reforms announced earlier this year would make it easier to detect illegal products and restrict further unlawful trade.
The reforms will require licences and permits for variations of therapeutic vapes and increasing advertising restrictions on vapes.
Currently, illegally importing, supplying or counterfeiting “unapproved therapeutic goods” carries a punishment of up to five years in prison and/or a $1.25m fine.
