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Tag: black market

  • Australian Gangs Torching Tobacco Shops

    Australian Gangs Torching Tobacco Shops

    Tobacco Reporter Archive

    Police in the Australian state of Victoria have arrested five individuals believed to be connected to the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang and a series of arson attacks on tobacco stores in Victoria.

    The arrests are a police response to the so-called tobacco wars, which have seen criminal gangs fight for control of the “significant source of income” generated by the sale of illicit tobacco.

    Victoria police Det. Insp. Graham Banks acknowledged community concern about the attacks in recent weeks and said the force was “turning the corner” with new intelligence, according to media reports.

    The arrests are related to the torching of four tobacco stores and a cafe between Christmas Day and Friday in Moe, Croydon, Altona, Altona North and Sunshine.

    On each occasion, police allege the offenders broke into the stores before setting them ablaze.

    Police report they found five vehicles believed to have been stolen when arresting the group, along with Molotov cocktails.

    “We believe they were preparing to do further attacks, so this is a substantial series of arrests,” Banks said. “This certainly impacts a syndicate that is driving this.

    “There is still a significant conflict between multiple different groups over control of a significant source of income. It will be an ongoing issue for several months, but we’re certainly turning the corner.”

  • England’s Ports Seeing Boost in Fake Vapes

    England’s Ports Seeing Boost in Fake Vapes

    The number of potentially unsafe disposable vapes being seized at English Channel ports has risen “dramatically,” according to trading standards.

    More than 300,000 of the counterfeit products had been seized during December, Kent Trading Standards said, according to the BBC.

    “A lot of our work has been focused on retail outlets, but this is now higher up the supply chain,” James Whiddett, spokesperson for KTS, said. “We’re stopping these devices, which may have about 10 times the legal limit of nicotine in them.”

    He said the current legal limit on the tank on disposable vapes is 2 mL, which is the equivalent of 600 puffs.

    “The products which we’re seeing coming into the country at the moment have 3,500 puffs on them and some have 7,000 puffs, so they are illegal and cannot be supplied to anyone,” he said.

    Whiddett said the demand for disposable vapes had risen dramatically over the last nine months.

    “The flavors, the fact that people don’t have to put their own liquids in, means it’s convenient and easy,” he said. “We’re not sure where these illegal vapes were going, and our investigations are ongoing.”

    Gillian Golden, CEO of the Independent British Vape Trade Association, said noncompliant vape products are also associated with noncompliant sales, “often to underage consumers.”

    She said the association would continue to assist trading standards over noncompliant vaping products.

  • Hong Kong Confiscates Black Market Cigarettes

    Hong Kong Confiscates Black Market Cigarettes

    Photo: YiuCheung | Adobe Stock

    Hong Kong customs officers arrested three men and confiscated HKD180 million ($23 million) in black market cigarettes, reports the South China Morning Post. This marks the second-largest smuggling bust of its kind this year.

    Three container trucks at two shipping yards near Tsing Yi Road, Tsing Yi, and Container Port Road South in Kwai Chung carrying three 40-foot cargo containers with 31 million suspected illegal cigarettes were seized. Three more containers in the same yards were seized, holding 33 million sticks of tobacco.

    If the illegal cigarettes were legally imported, the products would have generated HKD120 million in tax revenue.

    Customs has seized 640 million suspected black market cigarettes this year, an almost 50 percent increase from last year’s 427 million, according to the South China Morning Post.

    Many of the brands seized were popular overseas but uncommon locally. “Following the relaxation of anti-pandemic measures and the increase in the flow of people, the market demand for illicit cigarettes has increased,” Senior Investigator Lam Wai-kit said.

    An investigation is ongoing to trace the source and flow of the illegal products, according to Lam.