EXCLUSIVE: Forget coke, try smokes: How tobacco smugglers are flooding Australia with illegal cigarettes costing HALF the price of the legal product – and more arrive with every government-mandated price rise

• International crime syndicates are taking advantage of Australian ciggie prices 
• Annual tax excise increases of 12.5 per cent pushing packet prices to $40AUD
• ‘There’s no doubt’ the high prices have had an impact, former border official said 
• One bungling amateur smuggler was tripped up by a reminder note to himself
• ‘Get Eleanor to hide the tobacco in the container,’ Mark Samardali’s note said 

DANIEL PIOTROWSKI
16 July 2018
DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA 

Sophisticated Lebanese and Asian crime syndicates are flooding Australia with millions of illegal cigarettes and shiploads of tobacco.

And there is ‘no doubt’ massive tax hikes – which will soon push up the price of packets of smokes close to $40 – are to blame for the booming black market. 

Former border officials said crime syndicates see huge potential to rake in millions from tobacco and less risk than heavy-duty drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine.

‘They’d be mad not to be importing tobacco given the focus law enforcement have on hard drugs,’ said former Border Force chief tobacco agent Rohan Pike.    

Police seized millions of illegal cigarettes smuggled into Australia in operations announced by authorities last week

A tobacco syndicate was smashed and 57 million illegal cigarettes were seized in ten separate operations at in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Proceeds of crime above

Among the cartons seized were Manchester and Marlboro cigarettes

Mr Pike said illegal cigarettes were being sold in Australia online, at markets and dodgy pop up stores for about $15 or $17 a packet. 

Meantime, legitimate cigarettes cost between $25 to $30, including the cost of the spate of recent 12.5 per year excise increases.     

Ex-Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg gave a chilling example of how cunning the smuggling networks can be.

About two years ago border officers cottoned onto a stream of tobacco packages popping up at Sydney Airport. 

‘There is a lot of money to be made,’ said former Australian Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg

‘Our officers got onto it and said, anything that looks like this from South Korea, we’re taking out off the conveyor belt,’ Mr Quaedvlieg said. 

But within days of border agents ‘crimping’ the flow of tobacco, the packages started popping up elsewhere in the country.  

‘Within days the imports stopped coming into Sydney and started appearing in Brisbane instead,’he said. 

The Border Force has claimed it has achieved ‘record results’ in cracking down on the booming trade. 

A spokesperson said more than 137 people have been charged with tobacco related border offences resulting and 83 people have been successfully prosecuted since July 1, 2015. 

Among the biggest names charged over alleged links to an international tobacco importation plot last year were Fadi and Daniel Ibrahim, of the famous Sydney family. The allegations remain before the courts.

In a separate, unrelated case, police announced this month that they had seized nearly 60 million cigarettes from a large criminal syndicate. Police have charged eight people with importing illegal tobacco products. 

Some of the cigarettes collected by police in recent raids announced just last week 

Fadi Ibrahim (left) and Daniel Ibrahim (right) – of the well known Sydney family – were accused of roles in an alleged tobacco importation syndicate last year

Perth builder Mark Samardali, 49, is a rare amateur smuggler not affiliated with international crime syndicates who attempted to take advantage of high cigarette prices

Some smugglers do not get anywhere near that far. Perth builder Mark Samardali, 49, bungled an attempt to import 194kg of molasses tobacco in 2016. 

He thought he had covered his tracks but Border Force officers discovered a reminder note which said: ‘Get Eleanor to hide the tobacco’. 

The note formed key evidence in the case which landed Mr Samardali, a father-of-five, behind bars in November 2017.   

The Federal government announced a crackdown on the illicit tobacco trade in its most recent budget. 

A Border Force spokesman said the trade costs Australia $600 million a year ‘so it’s vitally important that we do everything we can to crackdown on this lucrative black market and those involved in it.’

Mr Pike, now the illicit trade adviser to the Australian Retail Association, said the government could have acted years ago. 

‘They didn’t increase the law enforcement response and they just hoped as a sort of honesty system people would continue to pay up. 

‘But yeah …  not surprisingly, criminals just took advantage of the environment.’