A man has been charged after a police road stop resulted in the seizure of almost $800,000 in illegal tobacco products. Police allege the 58-year-old man had cigarettes, tobacco leaf and vapes inside his van.
NSW Police said they observed the van, with Victorian plates, driving along the Hume Highway near Bookham, a rural town 25 minutes south of Yass, about 7.45am on Monday.
When they searched the van, police allege they found “293,200 individual cigarettes, 265kg of hard-pressed tobacco leaf and 2290 individual vape products”.
Police said the haul had an “estimated street value of $784,950”.
‘Explosive’ rise in illicit tobacco
A leading public health expert last week told Yahoo News that the extraordinary rise of illicit tobacco products in Australian society is a “horrifying disaster” that can only be reversed by launching an unprecedented crackdown on stores readily supplying them.
Illegal tobacco is worth up to $6.9 billion across Australia, with over 5,000 tonnes imported in 2024-25, according to the Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette Commissioner Report.
University of Sydney’s Professor Becky Freeman told Yahoo News she is “very concerned” about what she describes as an “explosive, very recent rise” in illicit tobacco.
She claims it is “more available than fresh fruit and vegetables”.
“Especially for 18 to 24-year-olds, because they have not only the proliferation of the cheap, illicit products, but also they were the first generation to take up vaping, and we know that if you vape, you are five times more likely to go on to smoke,” she said.
Smoking rates in Australia reached their lowest point just before vaping became widespread, around 2019.
Extracted in full from: https://au.news.yahoo.com/road-stop-results-in-785000-seizure-from-van-on-rural-highway-as-concerning-tobacco-trend-takes-hold-055610130.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACNlDkLPo69VMsPI1eG-IA-0OSZeh7fMXQkUgHbZBGl6vcgxUhJa1ARWAh1_m2hSnI8Diql59M7deQT57aHiG-CuCIpUM1yACSH5Rvht51maokf6CkigEsUugPWyEOevqSBvROv4N5Fpu8r9pxA58QhQ8VcKshEUxRPabBgRjlPE
