Fire bombings and ram raids on stores selling illegal cigarettes are spreading into multiple states as governments play a game of “whack-a-mole” on the lucrative market.
Queensland is the latest state to see a rise in the violent attacks on tobacconists as illegal sales ramp up across Australia, the state’s health minister has revealed.
The violence in Queensland is not at the level of Victoria or NSW, where there has been a spate of targeted torchings as a result of the ongoing war between criminal gangs over the profits of illegal tobacco.
There have been more than 100 firebombings in Victoria over two years while seven men have been arrested across Sydney over the theft of illegal cigarettes and chop-chop, or loose tobacco, in the past year.
But the Sunshine State is seeing a rise with reports of fire bombings, torchings and ram raids at tobacconists.
“That’s obviously a sign of the increasing criminal activity and criminal element that’s getting into this very lucrative illicit tobacco trade,” Health Minister Tim Nicholls told ABC Radio.
An illegal tobacco bust in Brisbane’s Eagle Farm last year.Credit: Australian Border Force
Harsh laws came into effect in Queensland earlier this month, increasing fines for individuals caught illegally supplying cigarettes to $32,260 per individual, up from $3226, and corporations can now be fined $161,300, up from $16,130.
It follows new fines introduced in September last year that enabled authorities to close offending businesses for up to six months – a penalty no other state had introduced.
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