Eight in Victoria charged with Commonwealth offences for directing an organised crime syndicate
Detectives from the VIPER and Lunar taskforces – as part of an ongoing investigation to target serious organised crime in the illicit tobacco market – charged eight individuals with Commonwealth offences for their roles in directing and assisting an organised crime syndicate.
The investigation, started last December, specifically targeted and sought to disrupt the trade of illicit tobacco and e-cigarettes linked to the organised crime syndicate, according to a media release from the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
The investigators alleged that the syndicate leased stores; employed staff as supervisors, store managers, and couriers; made deliveries; and sold illicit tobacco and related products while pretending to be legitimate gift and confectionary stores.
Transactional records acquired during the investigation showed that the syndicate, through selling illicit tobacco in the stores, earned over $30m within a 12-month period, the media release said.
Support for the investigation of the VIPER Taskforce came from the Australian Federal Police, the ATO, Australian Border Force’s (ABF) Illicit Tobacco Taskforce, and Therapeutic Goods Administration.
“Organised crime costs Australians around $60 billion each year and the illicit tobacco trade not only takes away vital funding from essential community services, but it also disadvantages small businesses who do the right thing,” said Justin Clarke, ATO’s acting assistant commissioner, in the news release.
“We remain committed to seizing illicit tobacco and dismantling these supply chains which we know criminals use to make immense profits as well as to fund a whole host of other nefarious criminal enterprises,” said Tony Smith, ABF assistant commissioner, in the media release.
Assistance came from Taskforce Lunar, the Armed Crime Squad, Illicit Firearms Squad, Financial Crime Squad, Criminal Proceeds Squad, Joint Organised Crime Taskforce, Echo Taskforce, Cybercrime Squad, Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team, Wyndham, Knox, Hobsons Bay, Echuca, Cobram, Ararat, Northern Grampians, and Geelong Crime Investigation Units, Westgate Divisional Response Unit, Eastern Region Crime Squad, and State Highway Patrol.
Searches and arrests
Starting at 5am on 22 October, officers executed more than 27 search warrants at tobacco stores, warehouses, and residential addresses across Victoria.
Specifically, they searched three industrial properties in Truganina; residential addresses in Truganina, Hoppers Crossing, Glen Waverley, Lara, Grovedale, Footscray, and Mount Cottrell; and tobacco stores in Herne Hill, Bell Park, Grovedale, Werribee, Dallas, Kensington, Boronia, Ararat, Kyabram, Echuca, and Yarrawonga.
Officers arrested a 25-year-old Hoppers Crossing man at Melbourne Airport just before 6am and later charged him with the Commonwealth offence of directing the activities of a criminal organisation, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment; possessing tobacco products with the intent of defrauding the revenue under the Customs Act 1901; possessing criminal proceeds; and selling or distributing e-cigarettes.
They also arrested and charged with the same offences two Hoppers Crossing men aged 26 and 21, a 50-year-old Grovedale woman, and a 51-year-old Glen Waverley man. They were scheduled to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on specified dates this October.
In Ararat, officers arrested a 25-year-old Hoppers Crossing man and a 46-year-old Ararat man. They also arrested a 38-year-old Tarneit man for attempting to remove stock from a retail outlet in Werribee. These individuals were charged with supporting a criminal organisation and committing illicit tobacco offences.
Officers also arrested a 21-year-old Yarrawonga man and a 50-year-old Mount Cotterill man in connection with committing illicit tobacco offences and possessing commercial cigarette manufacturing equipment. Officers later released these men, with the expectation of charging them on summons.
Police seized a Lamborghini Coupe and Range Rover from the Hoppers Crossing address, at least 600,000 illicit tobacco sticks, over 75 kg of loose-leaf tobacco, and cash from the residential addresses, as well as utilities and vans allegedly used to distribute illicit tobacco.
“The disruption of this syndicate today will have a substantial impact on the illicit tobacco trade,” said Martin O’Brien, crime command assistant commissioner for Victoria Police, in the media release. “These were significant players who we believe were directing the activity of a criminal organisation, turning a huge profit at the expense of others.”