{"id":637970,"date":"2026-04-29T07:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637970\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T07:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:31:11","slug":"illicit-cigarettes-vapes-cash-seized-in-raids-on-canberras-black-market-tobacco-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637970\/","title":{"rendered":"Illicit cigarettes, vapes, cash seized in raids on Canberra’s black market tobacco trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 455,000 illicit cigarettes have been seized as part of a series of raids on Canberra retailers, led by the ACT government and Australian Border Force.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The operation, which is understood to have happened over the past week, also resulted in the seizure of 26 kilograms of loose-leaf tobacco, 6,000 cigars, cash, and more than 1,600 vapes.<\/p>\n

Six Canberra retail outlets were inspected as part of the operation targeting Australia’s illicit tobacco trade, which is estimated to be worth about $10 billion.<\/p>\n

“We have seen concern in our community and a link between illicit tobacco, illicit vapes and organised crime,” ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said.<\/p>\n

“[And] also concerns from legitimate local businesses who are being undercut and undermined by this illegal activity.”<\/p>\n

The territory’s raids were assisted by ACT Policing.<\/p>\n

“Our criminal assets people were there to support Access Canberra in terms of the seizure of a quantity of money,” ACT Policing Chief Police Officer Scott Lee said.<\/p>\n

\"ACT<\/p>\n

ACT Chief Police Officer Scott Lee said they assisted Access Canberra with seizing money. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)<\/p>\n

Approximately $27,000 in cash was seized, while the raids identified six persons of interest with known links to the illicit tobacco trade.<\/p>\n

“I think it shows the benefit of this type of action,” Deputy Commissioner Lee said.<\/p>\n

“It’s certainly something that we are talking to Access Canberra about around future activity in the ACT to deter these stores.”Raids ramp up nationally<\/p>\n

Access Canberra officers, ACT Policing and the Therapeutic Goods Administration worked with Australian Border Force on the operation, which involved “sustained planning and preparation over a number of months,” according to an ACT government statement.<\/p>\n

It reflects a nationwide focus.<\/p>\n

In October last year, Australian Border Force announced an Illicit Tobacco National Disruption Group to target mid-level crime.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

More than 455,000 illicit cigarettes were recovered by authorities at six Canberra retailers. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

And more recently, the Federal government escalated its fight against the booming illicit tobacco and vape trade with tougher penalties, new offences and expanded police powers.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Commonwealth has been urging the states and territories to try to shut illegal shopfronts to try to stem the profits of criminal syndicates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, 23 retailers on the New South Wales Central Coast were closed for 90 days as part of similar operations.<\/p>\n

In that series of raids, NSW Health, NSW Police and Australian Border Force seized 836,000 illicit cigarettes, 120kg of loose-leaf tobacco, 5,200 illicit vapes, and 800 nicotine pouches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 455,000 illicit cigarettes have been seized as part of a series of raids on Canberra retailers,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[308833,42182,64,63,99,2667,308834,169525,1158,49917,40235,10702,21334],"class_list":["post-637970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-6-people","tag-act-policing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-canberra","tag-cigars","tag-illegal-cigarettes","tag-police","tag-raids","tag-tga","tag-tobacco","tag-vapes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}