Young thugs are being paid $5 for every pack of smokes they steal
Machete-wielding teens are raiding shops and service stations to steal legitimate cigarettes at alarming rates under the direction of organised crime gangs in a new front in the deadly tobacco war.
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Machete-wielding teens are raiding shops and service stations to steal legitimate cigarettes at alarming rates in a new front in the deadly tobacco war.
The Herald Sun can reveal young thugs are being paid $5 for every pack of smokes they steal under the direction of organised crime gangs.
Police say there have been roughly 280 raids on service stations in the past 12 months alone, with a huge spike in the theft of legitimate cigarettes from those outlets.
The stolen legitimate cigarettes are then sold to illicit retailers alongside chop chop and illegal smokes, with crime bosses snaring $1bn-plus from Victoria’s illegal tobacco trade in just three years.
The young thugs are commonly armed with machetes and are often seen jumping the counter before hauling large shelves and trays of smokes into their awaiting getaway vehicle.
They are then believed to be dumping their huge hauls of tobacco at an agreed location before the individual packs are distributed to some of the illicit retailers across the state.
The Herald Sun has been told the teenagers, which are ‘employed’ from those higher up the chain, are paid about $5 for every pack of smokes they successfully steal from a store.
One tobacco industry source said the illicit retailers would then sell that pack of smokes for about $15 to $20.
He said the small fee to stock the cigarettes was a viable way to stay competitive in the volatile illicit sector given they are making a nearly-200 per cent profit on each pack.
“They either sell (the packs) on the streets or sell to illicit shops that don’t care where they get them from,” the industry source said.
“Kids would get $5 a pack. Shop sells for $15 to $20. (They are) still in the market on price against illicit (cigarettes).
“Easy money for both.”
One police source said while the offending often fluctuates each week and month, there has been a steady rise in the number of cigarette burglaries over the past year.
He said he also believed the smokes were being sold to either illicit retailers or those higher in the chain of command.
He said many of the teenagers already in custody were well known to members from Operation Trinity, who target those committing home invasions and car thefts.
Groups of armed teenagers are known to hit several stores in a single night and often make off with hundreds of packs of cigarettes, worth thousands of dollars.
The teenagers could profit more than $1000 each in a single if they are successful in stealing just 200 packs.
It is not known what sort of agreed location the cigarettes are dumped at but sources say it would likely be at a suburban warehouse or storage unit.
Eight different stores were allegedly targeted for their cigarettes within just five hours of each other which saw five teenagers arrested and charged earlier this month.
The group, some as young as 15, are accused of hitting stores at Templestowe Lower, Templestowe, Doncaster East, Bulleen, Keysborough, Braeside and two at Cheltenham.
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