{"id":855266,"date":"2026-08-14T18:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/855266\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T18:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:50:13","slug":"police-seize-tobacco-firearms-silver-gold-in-joint-victorian-tasmanian-police-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/855266\/","title":{"rendered":"Police seize tobacco, firearms, silver, gold in joint Victorian, Tasmanian police operation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two men have been charged and one arrested after a joint police investigation into the alleged movement of millions of dollars in cash from Tasmania to Victoria.<\/p>\n

A 33-year-old from Hoppers Crossing, Victoria, and a 22-year-old from Sorell, Tasmania, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on August 12 following raids involving officers from Australian Federal Police, Tasmania Police, Victoria Police, and Australian Border Force.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both men were charged with knowingly deal proceeds of crime and recklessly deal proceeds of crime.<\/p>\n

\"Unidentified<\/p>\n

Police say more than $2.5 million worth of tobacco products were seized. (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)<\/p>\n

In a statement, the AFP said it is alleged they facilitated the movement of criminal proceeds in cash from Tasmania and Victoria using hire cars and a commercial passenger and freight vessel.<\/p>\n

Both were bailed to reappear in court on December 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

A third man, 37, from Hoppers Crossing, was arrested and later released. He is expected to be charged via summons.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Police allege the men facilitated the movement of criminal proceeds in cash from Tasmania and Victoria using hire cars and boats. (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)<\/p>\n

During the investigation \u2014 which started with intelligence from the Tasmania Police Crime and Intelligence Command \u2014 investigators identified the alleged movement of criminal assets between the states.<\/p>\n

Tasmania Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (TAS JOCTF) members “subsequently executed search warrants at properties in Melrose and Sorell in Tasmania on 11 August, 2026”, the AFP \u00a0said.<\/p>\n

“Coordinated warrants were executed on the same day in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria, by members of the Victoria Police VIPER Taskforce, which arrested the three men.”<\/p>\n

During the search warrants, officers seized more than $2.5 million worth of tobacco product, more than $1 million in cash, 9 kilograms of silver bars (worth more than $30,000) and one ounce of gold (worth more than $4,000), the AFP said.<\/p>\n

Police also seized five imitation firearms, including a gel blaster firearm, three registered firearms, a .22 rifle and ammunition, a cash-counting machine and mobile devices, the AFP said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Police say the investigation started with intelligence provided by Tasmanian police. (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)<\/p>\n

AFP Detective Superintendent Ray Imbriano said the arrests followed “strong collaboration from the AFP’s commonwealth and state law enforcement partners”.<\/p>\n

“This operation would not have been possible without the close cooperation between commonwealth and state law enforcement agencies on both sides of Bass Strait, and I thank all members involved,” Superintendent Imbriano said.<\/p>\n

The AFP said the men face a maximum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment if convicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two men have been charged and one arrested after a joint police investigation into the alleged movement of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,86235,29622,99,425365,18068,425366,285793,425363,10702,425364,107002],"class_list":["post-855266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-border-force","tag-australian-federal-police","tag-business","tag-gel-blaster","tag-illegal-tobacco","tag-ray-imbriano","tag-special-operations-group","tag-tasmania-joint-organised-crime-taskforce","tag-tobacco","tag-victoria-police-viper-taskforce","tag-viper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855266","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=855266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}