Almost 500,000 black market cigarettes, 380kg of ‘chop chop’ seized in Queensland raids

In short: 

Tobacconists in the Wide Bay have been caught selling illicit cigarettes, tobacco and vapes.

Businesses could be fined $300,000 and individuals could face two years’ imprisonment under new Queensland laws.

What’s next?

Pharmacists will be able to sell vapes to people aged over 18 without a prescription from October 2024.

Almost 500,000 cigarettes and 380 kilograms of “chop chop” have been seized during raids on Queensland businesses as part of a crackdown on the illegal tobacco and vape trade.

Tobacconists across Queensland’s Wide Bay were targeted in a joint operation by Queensland Health and the Therapeutic Goods Administration this week, which led to enforcement officers sweeping stores clean of their stock.

They seized $650,000 worth of illegal tobacco, including 476,000 illicit cigarettes, more than 380kg of loose tobacco and 350 individual vapes from stores in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay.

No charges have yet been laid.

The Wide Bay Public Health Unit’s Director Environmental Health, Wayne Ingall, said it was an important step in removing large amounts of illicit tobacco from the streets.

“We know tobacco in all forms is incredibly harmful to the health of our community, which is why it’s so heavily regulated,” he said.

“When it’s sold as loose tobacco – or ‘chop chop’ – and homemade cigarettes, we don’t have any oversight about how it’s manufactured or what’s in it.”

Illicit tobacco sellers avoid the excise due on regulated tobacco and it is estimated retailers in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay avoided paying about $1.2 million in taxes.

Businesses caught in possession or selling illicit tobacco or nicotine products could face fines of up to $322,600 and individuals could face two years’ imprisonment as part of the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products (Vaping) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill that was introduced to the Queensland parliament last month.

A nationwide ban came into effect on July 1, making it illegal for retailers, including tobacconists, to sell vapes of any kind, irrespective of their nicotine content.

Vapes in pharmacies

Vapes can be obtained from a pharmacy, but patients are required to have a prescription from a medical practitioner.

Bundaberg pharmacist Tim Spargo said he had not received any prescriptions from patients requiring vapes since the laws were introduced, which he suspected could be because people were still purchasing products illegally from retailers or online.

“I haven’t seen a single prescription,” he said.

“I’ve had a few GPs ring me and ask me what they need to write and I don’t even know what to tell them.

“There’s been a lot of information pumped out at a political level, but nothing with regards to what we’re supposed to do at the coalface.”

From October 1 pharmacists can supply therapeutic vapes with a nicotine concentration of 20mg/mL or less, if they believe it is clinically appropriate, to patients aged 18 years or over without a prescription.

Mr Spargo said he was reluctant to stock vapes in his pharmacy because of a lack of information and research into the health benefits, or training in how to properly support patients.

“That’s what would normally happen with any other medication that we provide,” he said.

“The advice for, and the provision, of the stock … that just hasn’t happened, and until it does I won’t be keeping it in my store.

“I know that a lot of other pharmacies would be feeling very similar with that too.”