SA Police make several significant seizures and 15 arrests as part of illegal tobacco task force probe

Police say they have made several “significant” tobacco seizures worth millions of dollars and arrested more people, severely disrupting the illicit networks infiltrating SA.

Detective Chief Inspector Brett Featherby will provide an update on Operation Eclipse. Picture: NCA / NewsWire Emma Brasier

Police have made several “significant” seizures that have severely disrupted the illicit tobacco networks infiltrating SA, they have revealed.

Police revealed on Friday they have now made a total of 15 arrests and ramped up operations on “key transit routes” as part of Operation Eclipse.

The arrests follow three seizures which police say have disrupted the flow of illicit tobacco entering the state through light trucks.

On Thursday, about 8.30am, a truck was stopped on the Princes Hwy at Tailem Bend that allegedly contained 486kg of loose tobacco and 472,000 cigarettes.

Tobacco seizure at Tailem Bend on October 31. Picture: SA Police.

Police estimate the value of the tobacco products in that seizure to be more than $600,000.

The driver, a 34-year-old man from Craigieburn in Victoria, was arrested and charged with money laundering and unlawful possession.

Imad Halloum faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court late on Friday afternoon.

He made no application for bail and was remanded in custody until early December.

Appearing via audio visual link from the cells beneath the court, Mr Halloum sat silently, still wearing the black t-shirt he was arrested in on Thursday, as the court hearing occurred.

He will return to court next month, unless an application for his release on bail is called on earlier.

On October 23, patrols in Murray Bridge stopped a rental truck travelling on the Princes Hwy at Monteith and officers allegedly located illicit tobacco products worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Tobacco seizure at Monteith on October 23, 2024. Picture: SA Police.

The truck was being driven by a 37-year-old man from Victoria and a 34-year-old man from NSW was the passenger.

The truck was seized for further examination and investigations into the matter are continuing.

Tobacco seizure at Monteith on October 23, 2024. Picture: SA Police.

Tobacco seizure at Monteith on October 23, 2024. Picture: SA Police.

On October 9, patrols in Port Augusta responded to a collision on Commercial Rd and found a truck that left the scene parked in an alley off Mackay St.

A search of the truck allegedly uncovered tobacco products and vapes with a total estimated value of $150,000.

Tobacco seizure at Port Augusta on October 09, 2024. Picture: SA Police.

The truck also allegedly contained tobacconist signage, shop fittings and price lists for displays, which detectives believe would have been used to establish a pop up shop.

The driver of the truck, a 44-year-old man and his passenger, a 32-year-old man, both from Queensland, were arrested and charged with money laundering.

Tobacco seizure at Port Augusta on October 09, 2024. Picture: SA Police.

Tobacco seizure at Port Augusta on October 09, 2024. Picture: SA Police.

They were both refused police bail and appeared in the Port Augusta Magistrates Court on October 10. They will reappear in court on November 6.

Detective Chief Inspector Brett Featherby said he was “optimistic that what we’re doing is working” to combat the illegal tobacco trade.

“There’s no doubt if you have seizures of this nature that it’s going to significantly disrupt what’s occurring in South Australia,” chief inspector Featherby said.

“We’re fully aware we need to maintain this pressure to make this a hostile environment for these illicit tobacco shops.”

He appealed to members of the community to be on the lookout for any increased movements of vehicles or light trucks at industrial properties and warehouses in recent months.

It comes after a stash of allegedly illicit cigarettes with a street value of $1m was seized in a raid of what police said is the safe house of one of the major criminal groups involved in the trade in South Australia.

In the raid, officers also found more than $10,000 in US currency and $10,000 in Australian currency concealed in walls at the northern suburbs premises last week.

The Advertiser revealed in October that SA tobacco shop owners were being asked to pay $2000 a month to interstate crime syndicates or risk being firebombed.