Three members of the same family are due to appear in the Perth Magistrates Court today after being charged over their alleged involvement in a crime group accused of large-scale trafficking of illicit tobacco and vapes across Western Australia.
A 47-year-old woman, her 68-year-old father and her 26-year-old son-in-law were arrested following coordinated raids by the Australian Federal Police on Wednesday, which uncovered about $1 million in cash and roughly five tonnes of illegal tobacco products, including close to 30,000 vapes.
Investigators executed multiple search warrants at homes, storage facilities and a tobacconist in Perth’s southern suburbs and the South-West, as part of an operation targeting the alleged distribution and sale of illicit tobacco and vaping goods and the handling of the proceeds.
Police say the probe began in September last year amid heightened efforts to disrupt organised crime links to the illicit tobacco trade. Subsequent inquiries, including intelligence from earlier WA operations, allegedly identified additional members of a syndicate, including the sister and father of a man arrested in Baldivis last March.
On Wednesday, officers arrested the 68-year-old at a home in Coodanup near Mandurah, where they allegedly found about $800,000 in cash, two money-counting machines and illicit tobacco. A separate search at a property in Eaton near Bunbury allegedly uncovered another counting machine beside a bed and cash totalling about $240,000, leading to the arrest of the 47-year-old woman.
The cash was seized as suspected proceeds of crime after police allege the pair could not provide a reasonable explanation for its source.
The 26-year-old man was arrested at a Bunbury shopping centre and later charged after allegedly refusing to give police access to his mobile phone. A subsequent search of a home in Australind allegedly revealed illicit cigarettes and vapes. Most of the illegal tobacco seized during the operation was found in storage units around Mandurah, Bunbury and Busselton.
Authorities allege the seized products, if sold unlawfully, would have avoided millions of dollars in Commonwealth excise and taxes. Multiple electronic devices were also taken for forensic analysis.
AFP Commander Renee Colley said the crackdown was aimed at stopping criminals from profiting at the expense of the community.
“Now more than ever, we need a whole-of-community commitment to changing the perception and acceptance of illicit tobacco,” Commander Colley said, adding the trade was closely linked to violence and organised crime.
“These activities put lives and livelihoods at risk and threaten Australia’s national security and economy. We will continue to target those involved, both here and offshore.”
The woman and her father have each been charged with dealing in proceeds of crime worth $100,000 or more, an offence carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment. The 26-year-old man faces a charge of failing to comply with an order, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.
Over the past 12 months, the AFP in WA has seized nearly $4 million in cash and about 13 tonnes of illicit tobacco, charging 10 people as investigations continue into wider syndicate links and assets allegedly connected to the illegal trade.
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