A man has been fined almost $35,000 for trying to smuggle 35 cartons and nine packets of cigarettes into Australia where tobacco prices are continuing to increase to record levels.
The 47-year-old flew into Perth from Bali in July 2017 when Australian Border Force (ABF) found the cigarettes in his luggage.
He declared on his incoming passenger card he did not have more than the (then) maximum amount of 50 cigarettes despite carrying 35 cartons and nine packets.
The man was caught offending by ABF a second time when he returned to Perth from Bali.
He declared he didn’t have more than the adapted maximum of 25 cigarettes but ABF officers found three cartons of cigarettes.
A 47-year-old man (pictured) has been fined almost $35,000 for attempting to smuggle 35 cartons and nine packets of cigarettes into Australia in July 2017
The man declared on his incoming passenger card that he did not have more than the (then) maximum amount of 50 cigarettes despite carrying 35 cartons and nine packets (pictured)
Cigarette prices in Australia are among the most expensive in the world and expected to rise an additional $3 per pack on September 1.
Australian smokers are increasingly going to greater lengths to get cheap tobacco hits to avoid spending almost $40 on a pack of cigarettes.
The man pleaded guilty to six charges in the Perth Magistrate’s Court last month and has been fined $29,000.
He was also ordered to pay an additional $5,704.
The charges include two counts of smuggling cigarettes, two counts of evading duty payable and two counts of making false or misleading statements to an officer of Customs.
Evidence from the man’s mobile phone proved the man had sold and was intending to sell cigarettes.
The man pleaded guilty to six charges in the Perth Magistrate’s Court last month and has been fined $29,000. He was also ordered to pay an additional $5,704
During the time of offending the man was employed as a fly-in-fly-out worker in Port Headland in Western Australia but lived in Indonesia.
Rod O’Donnell, the ABF Regional Commander for WA, said tobacco smuggling was of their operational priorities.
‘The message is clear, we have the commitment and the means to detect even small amounts of smuggled cigarettes and tobacco, and the consequences for those caught can be very severe,’ Commander O’Donnell said.
In 2017, the ABF found more than $356million worth of illicit tobacco at the border which included almost 240 million cigarettes and 217 tonnes of tobacco.
Evidence from the man’s mobile phone proved the man had sold and was intending to sell cigarettes (pictured)