It started in Melbourne, now the tobacco war is Australia’s problem

It started in Melbourne, but the battle for control of Australia’s illegal tobacco industry is spreading to capital cities across the country.

Fiery tobacco warfare has spread to every mainland state, despite authorities making unprecedented seizures of illicit smokes.

Feuding between syndicates which started in Victoria has now spread to South Australia where that state’s police have set up a special operation dubbed Eclipse to investigate a recent wave of arson attacks.

It was revealed this week that there had been seven firebombings in six weeks in Adelaide, carried out on businesses and cars.

The Herald Sun revealed last month that rival gangs who have been slugging it out for control of the Victorian market were sending aggressive messages to shop operators in South Australia.

Exiled Melbourne crime boss Kazem Hamad is alleged to have demanded they pay him thousands of dollars a month but his competitors sent equally aggressive warnings not to do so.

Melbourne has had more than 100 fires linked to the war to control the illegal tobacco trade. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Eclipse is investigating firebombing, assaults and money-laundering and has been liaising with Victoria Police’s Lunar taskforce, set up last year to tackle the syndicates here.

“Operation Eclipse has established strong working relationships with Victoria Police and other law enforcement agencies and we are sharing intelligence,” detective Supt Shane Addison of South Australia’s serious and organised crime branch said.

There have in recent years been outbreaks of firebombings in Queensland and West Australia linked to smoke trade friction.

There are signs the conflict is also in New South Wales where there have been a number of arson attacks on tobacconists in rural areas.

Meanwhile, figures show the Australian Taxation Office taskforce investigating the illegal smoke sector is this financial year making seizures four times the size of those in the previous 12-month period.

A burnt out store on Chapel St in Prahran, one of the busiest strips for illegal smokes sales in Melbourne. Picture: David Crosling

And while 2023-24 was a record-breaking year for the number of seizures and convictions, the amounts seized already since July 1 this year are impressive.

Authorities have seized and destroyed an average of 2065kg of tobacco each month so far until August 31, compared to 1390kg per month the year prior.

That equates to an average of 826kg of tobacco wiped during each seizure in recent months.

It is a serious escalation from the average of 206kg seized during raids last financial year.

It is believed huge amounts of loose tobacco – or “chop chop” – have been seized since July 1 as the number of actual cigarettes – or “sticks” – seized is far less per month.

The last financial year was a huge 12 months for the ATO’s Illicit Tobacco Taskforce where they secured 11 convictions.

There were also 81 separate seizures of tobacco-related gear which was more than triple the number made in 2020-21.