Black market cigarette shops rife on the Gold Coast selling Australian and imported brands

Black-market businesses are sprouting in our suburban streets and selling illicit products out in the open, so why aren’t we cracking down on them?

Where there’s smoke(s), there’s fire(bombs).

As a parent of teens, I know all about the vape craze at schools, and I’ve heard that old-school cigarettes are on the increase among Gen Z, but, as a non-smoker, I didn’t realise the black market had become so mainstream.

But apparently I’m the only one.

Living in London 20 years ago, I well remember the shady-looking fellows on Holloway Road offering Marlboro packets at a cut-rate price … and running for their lives at any sign of the cops.

At least those guys had the decency to try to hide their illicit trade, whereas, according to Reddit, the off-brand tobacconists sprouting in our streets are absolutely out in the open.

A resident posted on the Gold Coast subreddit: “Why are cigarettes so cheap at tobacconists? All cigarette packs cost around $12-20 dollars at tobacconists but the same cigarettes cost more than 30 dollars at Woolies. What’s the reason behind this?”

So I decided to investigate.

Walking into a variety of tobacconists, many spawned from recently abandoned retail spaces, I was surprised there wasn’t even an attempt to look legitimate.

INSIDE STORY: THE GOLD COAST BLACK MARKET TOBACCO TRADE

'Black market' cigarettes for sale on the Gold Coast.

In fact, the first shop I visited outright admitted that their stock was supplied from the black market.

“How much is a packet of cigarettes?” I asked.

“The imported ones or the Australian ones?” replied the shop attendant. “The imported ones, the cheap ones, are around $20 and the Australian ones are like $38 or $42.”

“How are the imported ones so much cheaper?” I asked in naive disbelief.

“It has to do with taxation … they don’t include the tax …” his voice trailed off.

“So, are they like black-market cigarettes …?”

He nodded in reply.

At the next shop, I simply asked if they sold cigarettes and the attendant whipped out a board with empty packets pinned to it, with the prices written in black marker. Ranging from $12 to $25, these were brands I’ve never seen or heard of before: brands like Manchester, Craven, Esse, brands names I couldn’t even read because they were written in a foreign script.

Maybe I just don’t know these brands because I’m not a smoker. But I’m also not an idiot.

Now I’m not going to disclose just where these shops were, I’m not trying to get firebombed, but the fact is they could be anywhere on the Coast – because they are.

Visit any suburban shopping strip and you’re almost guaranteed to see at least one, if not a few, of these smoke shops. With a strip of lurid LED lights and a sparse in-store stock set-up, their true lure lies behind the counter.

'Black market' cigarettes for sale on the Gold Coast.

It seems our well-meaning but exorbitant cigarette taxes are to blame for the spike in demand for illicit tobacco products, while toothless penalties mean there is no incentive for dealers to shutter their black market business.

Total tax on a pack of cigarettes in Australia sits at north of 70 per cent, meaning a 40-cigarette pack of Longbeach, bought from Coles, costs $75.99.

Given that nicotine is addictive and incredibly hard to quit, it’s not difficult to see why smokers are drawn to a market as black as their lungs.

Meanwhile, under existing Queensland Government laws, the maximum penalty for a smoking product supplier supplying illicit tobacco is 300 penalty units, with an on-the-spot fine of 20 penalty units for individuals and 100 penalty units for corporations.

The maximum penalty for storing or possessing illicit tobacco is 140 penalty units, with an on-the-spot fine of 20 penalty units for individuals and 100 penalty units for corporations.

As of 1 July 2024, the penalty unit amount was $161.30, meaning the maximum penalty for corporations supplying illicit tobacco was $64,520.

That may not seem like peanuts, but it sure does when compared to the profits available.

How much do marketeers stand to make? Well, the fact that organised criminals are currently firebombing rival smoke shops perhaps gives a good indication.

More than 70 stores selling tobacco have been firebombed in the past 18 months, as rival gangs vie for control of what has become a very lucrative market.

And our government budgets are getting smoked as well, with the illegal cigarette and vape market burning $12.5 billion from the federal budget alone, meaning less money for roads, schools and hospitals – where those very smokers will one day need care.

The good news is that new licensing laws for tobacco sales will come into force in Queensland in September, requiring every retailer and wholesaler to register,

However, the question remains as to whether these rules will be properly enforced, or whether it will be a case of bureaucratic smoke and mirrors?