Retailer flogs illegal tobacco just days after being raided
A Sydney retailer has brazenly continued selling illegal tobacco just days after being raided by authorities.
NSW
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A Sydney retailer has brazenly continued selling illegal tobacco just days after being raided by authorities.
Secret checks on Monday of the store at Seaforth discovered a dozen different varieties of cheap, illicit cigarettes available without the mandatory plain packaging. The business was also selling illegal vaping products and nicotine pouches.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the business was targeted in joint action between NSW Health bureaucrats and police only last week. During the operation across a range of venues on the Northern Beaches - authorities seized 3000 illegal vapes, 10 kilograms of loose leaf tobacco products and 90,000 illicit cigarettes. The estimated street value was more than $175,000.
NSW Health declined to comment due to ongoing legal proceedings against the venues involved in the raids.
How The Daily Telegraph first reported on the illicit tobacconist:
It comes as the Minns Government prepares to roll out tougher restrictions on the sale of nicotine products on July 1.
From Tuesday, all retailers and suppliers will need to apply for a license to sell tobacco. An initial grace period expires in October.
Health Minister Ryan Park said the scheme will “help clean out bad actors in NSW’s tobacco market”.
“Under this new scheme, you’ll need to actively seek permission to sell tobacco, and if we find you’ve got a history of doing the wrong thing, the government’s got the power to say no,” Mr Park said.
Labor is yet to reveal if it will support the new proposal from Shadow Health Minister Kellie Sloane, first revealed by The Sunday Telegraph, which will shut down illegal tobacco traders for a month and allow landlords to cancel their leases. It’s understood the government will await the full details of the legislation.
Currently NSW Health is relying on a little more than 20 compliance officers to monitor the tobacco black market across the entire state.
Upper House MP Rod Roberts has called for “multifaceted taskforce in which NSW Health staff work with police” to clean-up the illicit tobacco trade.
“The NSW Police Force currently regulates security licences and tattoo parlours, amongst other things. They have criminal analysts and access to intelligence and a number of resources around organised crime” Mr Roberts told parliament last week.
Originally published as Retailer flogs illegal tobacco just days after being raided
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