Commissioner welcomes crackdown on illegal tobacco sales

6 February, 2024

The NSW Small Business Commissioner has welcomed a renewed crackdown on dodgy retailers selling illegal tobacco and nicotine vapes.

Retailers across the city of Sydney and southeast Sydney have been targeted in a joint operation between NSW Health inspectors and NSW Police officers, working with officers from the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The most recent raids seized 118,000 cigarettes, 30,000 nicotine e-cigarettes, 45kg of flavoured and loose-leaf tobacco and 284 containers of nicotine pouches worth with an estimated street value of over $1.1 million. This brings the total estimated street value of seized illegal vaping and tobacco products across NSW, since 1 July 2020 to more than $31.6 million.

NSW Small Business Commissioner Chris Lamont said his office had received numerous complaints from law abiding small businesses and supportive business and industry associations about illegal sales.

Illegal tobacco is an untaxed product sold outside the law. As a consequence it is cheaper than legal tobacco, often sold without prescribed health warnings and is more likely to be sold to minors.

“There are too many instances where illegal tobacco is sold in contravention of prescribed regulations. This illegal trade is also having a detrimental impact on the sustainability of regional communities and small businesses that comply with the law,” Mr Lamont said.

“It’s pleasing to see the authorities acting on this issue.”