WA tobacco war: ‘Massive’ seizure of illicit tobacco and vapes by task force nets zero charges or fines

The State’s crack illicit tobacco team has not issued a single fine or laid any criminal charges despite reporting a “massive” haul of cash and illegal cigarettes in its first week of raids on businesses. On Sunday, more than a week after the joint compliance crackdown was launched by the Department of Health and WA Police, Supt Steve Post provided an update on the “successful” operations concentrated in WA’s South West. “We attended eight premises in the South West and conducted compliance checks. We seized $87,940 in cash, 74,670 cigarettes, over 20 kilograms of tobacco, 270 vapes and 185 tobacco pouches,” Supt Post said. “There is a significant amount of cash and cigarettes in the community that we are intending to take off the streets. “This is just a demonstration, the first week of the action that we will be taking in this environment to make the industry as difficult as possible for these illicit businesses to do their business within our communities.” Authorities are yet to take any action against the business owners via way of fines or criminal prosecutions, but Supt Post said he would “envisage” that enforcement action, including follow-up visits, will follow. “We will be attending these premises on a regular basis,” he said. “We will, systematically and driven by intelligence, attend all those premises and take enforcement action as it’s appropriate.” The Cook Government has been drafting tougher legislation to give compliance staff powers to close down stores caught selling illicit products, similar to the laws already in force in other States. There is still no time frame on when the new laws will be ready to put to Parliament, but Department of Health Director of Tobacco and Vapes Regulation, Shane Giblett, said that will make a difference. “When we do get the new laws in place, we will be in a position to be able to react,” Mr Giblett said. “There has been an impact with legislation over east, so that is something that as a Department of Health, we’ve looked at quite comprehensively and how laws in other States have worked, and we know that Western Australia is pretty good with adapting strong legislation, and there’ll be no difference in this capacity.”