The illicit tobacco trade in NSW took a hit last week as $4.4 million in illicit tobacco was seized at a property in Braidwood. The raid removes a significant quantity of illicit product from the market and comes as part of the dedicated Operation Junglevine2, under the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce (ITTF).
The joint taskforce included officers from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Australian Border Force and New South Wales Police conducted the raid, seizing 26,670kg of illicit tobacco, along with a tobacco shredding machine.
This is the third raid just this month in the ongoing Operation, which has seized and destroyed more than $44 million worth of illicit tobacco so far.
ATO Assistant Commissioner Jade Hawkins has warned individuals involved in organised syndicates that their time will soon be up.
“We are equipped with the resources, sophisticated data matching and analytics capability, and intelligence sharing relationships to uncover even the most elaborate illicit tobacco growing schemes.
“We continue to work closely with our government and law enforcement partners. Operation Junglevine2 is a great example of how we are collaborating across our agencies to mitigate this type of behaviour.
“The people behind these arrangements are not genuine farmers or landowners. They are organised criminals who use the money from the illicit tobacco growing operations to fund their extravagant lifestyles. It is not right or fair to the Australian community.”
The community is one of the best tools in our tax crime fighting toolbox. If you suspect that illicit tobacco is being grown, manufactured, distributed or sold in your community, you can report it via the tip-off form at www.ato.gov.au/tipoff, or by phoning the tip-off hotline on 1800 060 062.
Elisha Radwanowski BCom (HRM & IR)
ACAPMA
Source: https://acapmag.com.au/2023/05/illicit-tobacco-crackdown-success-in-nsw/.
