Northern Territory Police Drug and Organised Crime Division (DOCD) executed a large illicit tobacco seizure earlier this week.
This comes after Operation Hook was established to disrupt the sale and supply of illicit tobacco and vapes in the Northern Territory by interstate Organised Crime entities.
Earlier this month, DOCD received intelligence of a large pallet of freight being delivered to a business in Yarrawonga for a person of interest allegedly involved in an organised crime syndicate.
Enquiries conducted on Monday 22 July, led police to an address in Northcrest Berrimah, where three males were observed loading freight from a rental van into a white Audi.
Three males attempted to leave the location in the Audi before they were intercepted by members of the DOCD.
Police executed a lawful search of the address and the two vehicles and located:
- 21 boxes of loose tobacco hidden in bags labelled “Chinese Tea”
- 11 boxes of illegal cigarettes
In total 336kgs of illicit tobacco and 111,000 illegal cigarettes were seized in addition to the two vehicles.
The 3 males were arrested at the scene and bailed to appear at Darwin Local Court on Thursday 1 August 2024.
Detective Superintendent John Ginnane said, “Purchasing illegal tobacco directly funds organised crime groups locally, interstate and overseas.
“NT Police are aware of ongoing conflicts between large crime gangs interstate and we will stop at nothing to prevent these occurring in the Territory.
“Cutting the beast off at the knees, as we did on Monday, will continue to prevent that.
“It is understandable that people who smoke want to buy a cheaper product. However, they need to realise that every illicit cigarette pack they buy directly funds organised crime, arson, kidnapping, financing the trafficking of dangerous drugs, and in some cases murder.
"That is not acceptable to the NT Police, and we will continue to disrupt and deter organised crime of this type gaining a toehold in our community.”
