Tag: organized crime

  • Health Minister: Tobacco Black Market ‘Thriving’ Across Australia

    Health Minister: Tobacco Black Market ‘Thriving’ Across Australia

    Australia’s illicit tobacco trade has spiraled out of control, Health Minister Mark Butler warned, describing it as the country’s biggest threat to public health. He said organized crime has seized control of the multi-billion-dollar market, with violence, arson, and gang turf wars now common, and that the illegal trade also bankrolls other criminal activity, including drug and sex trafficking.

    The surge comes amid a decade of steep cigarette tax increases, which pushed the duty on a pack from A$10.62 in 2015 to A$28 ($7.01 to $18.48) today. While intended to reduce smoking, the policy has backfired according to officials: federal excise revenue has fallen, and the Australian Medical Association warns that smoking rates may be creeping up again. Experts say the black market now dwarfs legitimate sales, leaving policymakers struggling to strike a balance between public health and crime prevention.

    Butler said enforcement, rather than tax policy, is the real challenge, pointing out that criminal gangs can produce cigarettes for a fraction of the legal price, leaving Australia caught between soaring taxes and a thriving underground market. State leaders and opposition politicians are calling for urgent action. NSW Premier Chris Minns described repeated tax hikes as “feeding the illicit tobacco market,” while Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston accused the federal government of weak leadership.

    “It is his government who has sat on its hands and allowed the black market to thrive due to their inaction and weak leadership,” Ruston said. “It is a clear indictment on the health minister, and his government, that it has taken this long for them to realize the extent of the problem.”

  • Cross-Border Ring Dismantled, 25M Cigarettes Seized

    Cross-Border Ring Dismantled, 25M Cigarettes Seized

    Officials seized 25 million illegal cigarettes in western Romania and uncovered a connected clandestine factory in Italy in dismantling a cross-border smuggling network. Romanian and Italian investigators, backed by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), raided a warehouse and nine homes in Romania, in addition to the Italian factory.

     “As a result of the investigations carried out, in cooperation with law enforcement authorities from Italy (Guardia di Finanze), with OLAF’s support, the criminal network was dismantled,” the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism in Romania) said in a press release.

    “Additionally, approximately 2,500 boxes of cigarettes were discovered and seized, while a clandestine factory was found in Italy, which was allegedly produced for the European illegal market and operated by Romanian, Moldovan, and Italian citizens,” the police said. 

    Romanian prosecutors ordered the detention of two people connected to the searches. They are being investigated for “establishing an organized criminal group and smuggling consisting of the collection, possession, transport, receipt, storage, delivery, distribution, and sale of goods or merchandise that must be placed under a customs regime, knowing that they originate from smuggling or are intended for smuggling.” At least six others were also detained.