Police raid uncovers huge illegal tobacco haul
GEELONG police have seized more than half a million dollars of ‘chop chop’ tobacco destined for the illegal cigarette black market.
Police executed a Commonwealth search warrant, with the help of the Australian Border Force, on a storage facility in North Geelong on Friday.
More than 500kg of dried tobacco leaf worth about $550,000 was found in a commercial storage facility on Douro St.
No one was present at the time of the raid.
Detective Senior Sergeant Rod Lloyd, officer in charge at the Geelong Divisional Response Unit, said the tobacco was believed to have been grown in Australia.
“We have seized chop chop before, but this is one of our larger seizures in Geelong,” Det Snr-Sgt Lloyd said.
“It’s 500-odd kilograms that won’t make its way into tobacco shops to be sold under the counter.”
Senior Detective Lloyd said inquiries had led police to believe the tobacco would have ended up in a number of shops scattered throughout Melbourne and Geelong.
The investigation is continuing, Senior Detective Lloyd said, and anyone with further information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
The massive seizure follows police swooping on a central Geelong store on Moorabool St in a major raid last month.
Police allegedly seized in excess of 88,000 illegally imported and homemade cigarettes, with an estimated value of more than $55,000, at MC Tobacco & Gifts Shop under a Drugs, Poisons, Controlled Substances Act warrant.
The growth rate of Geelong’s illegal tobacco trade increased to a 9.4 per cent high in 2018, exceeding other major cities such as Perth and Brisbane, a recent KPMG study found.
Earlier this year an Addy investigation found milk bars selling single cigarettes — colloquially known as loosies — for between 50 cents and $1.50.
The sale of single cigarettes was outlawed through the Tobacco Act 1987 in an effort to protect kids.
Research by Philip Morris Limited data, obtained by the Geelong Advertiser, found 34 businesses in the Geelong region were selling illicit tobacco.
Norlane and Corio, Geelong’s long disadvantaged northern suburbs, had the most businesses selling illegal tobacco, according to the data.