‘Foot soldier’ in tobacco smuggling syndicate jailed over 800,000 cigarettes

A tobacco smuggler’s plans went up in smoke when he was caught unloading 870,000 cigarettes from a shipping container at a Brisbane storage facility.

A tobacco smuggler caught unloading more than 800,000 cigarettes from a shipping container in North Brisbane will spend six months in jail for his role in the illegal enterprise.

Billal Naboulsi, 24, was a “foot soldier” in the smuggling syndicate when he was arrested with another man while trying to unpack 874,000 cigarettes, which avoided $680,000 in duty tax, from an Eagle Farm shipping container in August 2018.

Naboulsi, a carpenter from New South Wales, faced Brisbane District Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to possessing tobacco products imported with intent to defraud the revenue.

Commonwealth prosecutor Katie Shea detailed how Naboulsi and his co-offender Ismail Hamide, 25, had travelled from NSW to Brisbane on a “dry run” three weeks before the cigarettes arrived.

The illegally imported cigarettes, not the ones pictured, avoided $683,000 in duty tax being paid. Picture: AFP

The pair had travelled to collect the real McCoy when they were arrested by Australian Federal Police on August 17, 2018.

Defence barrister Thomas Hughes said neither men had organised the importation but rather had facilitated it and described Hamide as the sergeant in the operation and Naboulsi as the private.

Mr Hughes said they were merely foot soldiers who had not made a “particularly sophisticated contribution” to the operation.

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The court heard Hamide, who organised the test run and lease of the storage unit, was sentenced last month in the Brisbane District Court to two years’ jail, with parole release after eight months.

Judge Michael Byrne QC said there was “barely a cigarette paper difference” between both men but accepted that Naboulsi’s role in the enterprise was less than Hamide’s.

“This is not small time offending, but you were not the actual organisers,” Judge Byrne said.

Naboulsi was sentenced to 20 months’ jail and will be released after serving six months behind bars.