ATO, BORDER FORCE, POLICE RAIDS SEIZE MILLIONS

■ Australian Taxation Office investigators conducted nine operations in the 2020-2021 financial year, seizing illicit tobacco with a taxable value of $178 million.

■ March 2021: ATO officers raid farms along the New South Wales-Victorian border and seize 400 tonnes of illegal tobacco plants: Estimated value: $84.3 million

■ May, 2021: Darling Downs police and ATO officers raid a farm at Linthorpe, west of Toowoomba and seize 25 tonnes of illegal tobacco. Estimated value: $40 million

■ June 2021: Logan Police execute 12 raids and uncover 4.5 tonnes of tobacco, $900,000 in cash, 114,732 packets of cigarettes and 150,000 vapes containing nicotine. Estimated value: $10.42 million

■ July 2021: ABF discovers a single shipment in Melbourne of more than 2.8 million cigarettes which had been the subject of a smuggling attempt. Estimated value: $4 million.

■ August 2021: Police intercept a New South Wales registered semi-trailer at the Queensland – New South Wales border and find counterfeit cigarette and loose leaf chop chop. Estimated value: $600,000.

■ August 2021: The Australian Border Force busts a shipment at the New South Wales container examination facility of more than 9.5 million illicit cigarettes which was being smuggled into the state. Estimated value: $11 million.