‘A growing issue’: Police work to stamp out Brisbane’s tobacco turf war
Police are working to prevent an escalating turf war between organised crime groups allegedly selling illegal cigarettes and vapes in Brisbane.
Various tobacconists have been targeted in recent months, including one in Fortitude Valley allegedly firebombed by a masked man early Thursday morning.
Police Minister Dan Purdie said authorities were taking the issue seriously out of concern the community may be put at risk.
Inside the firebombed Fortitude Valley business.Credit: William Davis
“One thing we don’t want to do is jeopardise the safety of innocent Queenslanders,” Purdie told reporters on Friday.
“[The incidents are] certainly something that we don’t want to spread or escalate.
“We’ve got assigned detectives in Queensland that are now focusing on potential criminal links to the illegal tobacco trade.
“It’s a growing issue.”
A motive for the Thursday attack is yet to be confirmed, but police say they are exploring possible organised crime links.
A masked man entered the business on Wickham Street – next to Prohibition nightclub – about 3am and allegedly assaulted the owner before it went up in flames.
The shop had been boarded up by Friday morning, but a small hole in the plywood showed extensive damage inside.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the business.
“We have had a number of tobacco stores targeted recently. We can’t confirm whether or not this is related, but that link is being investigated,” Inspector Jane Healy said from the scene.
“This has only been a tobacco store for maybe two or three weeks, so it’s very new.”
It comes after Brisbane Times revealed many convenience stores in the CBD and surrounding suburbs were selling illegally imported cigarettes under the counter – or sometimes in plain sight.
“They’re illegal … I don’t know where we get them, I’m not the manager,” one seller told this masthead.
Almost all stores sold Manchester cigarettes, and many also stocked Chinese brand “Double Happiness”, Korean brand “ESSE”, imported “Marlboro Reds” and “Winfield Blues” among others.
Prices ranged from $17 to $25 a pack – about 50 per cent cheaper than most legitimately taxed plain-packaging equivalents.
More than 5.2 million cigarettes and 1.2 tonnes of loose tobacco were seized from Queensland retailers in a 12-week blitz from July.
Organised crime is believed to control about 75 per cent of the market.
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