Vows to ‘throw the book’ at black market tobacco shops

Farid Farid | July 22, 2025

Shops selling illicit tobacco could face on-the-spot shutdowns and fines of $1.5 million as authorities net another huge haul of dodgy durries.

The 46 million cigarettes, said to be worth more than $30 million, were seized from four containers at the NSW border in June and July.

Premier Chris Minns is trying to butt out a ballooning black market of cheap cigarettes which has been linked to gang violence, robberies and firebombings and vowed to push through “some of the toughest penalties in the country” on Tuesday. 

Policy plans include enabling health ministry officials to immediately close down businesses selling illicit tobacco for up to four weeks.

Magistrates could then issue court orders that extend the closures for up to a year, Mr Minns said.

His blueprint would also give some powers to landlords to evict tenants selling illicit cigarettes.

For serious offenders, the government will push through prison sentences of up to seven years and $1.5 million fines.

“We want to make sure that we are throwing the book at those that sell illegal tobacco,” Mr Minns told Sydney radio 2GB.

It mirrors penalties for illegally selling vapes in the state.

The opposition flagged similar proposals in June with a bill the premier said deserved serious consideration.

The government kicked off a mandatory licensing scheme on July 1, requiring all retailers selling tobacco and smoking products to hold a permit or risk fines more than $10,000.

Tobacco prices have been driven up by a federal excise topping $1.40 a cigarette in March, before shop mark-ups, with the average pack of 20 costing about $40.

The excise has increased from $16 to $28 a pack in six years but total revenue is going backward as consumers flee to the black market.

“This is the only tax in the world that’s doubled, and yet the revenue has halved,” Mr Minns has previously said.

Revenue from the tobacco tax peaked at $16.3 billion in 2019/20 but is projected to dip to a little more than $7 billion in 2025/26.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has ruled out lowering the excise.

“I don’t think the answer here is to make cigarettes cheaper for people, the answer here is to get better at compliance,” he said in June.

Along with the tobacco tax, landmark federal laws that took effect in October mean vapes can only legally be sold through pharmacies.

Federal law enforcement agencies have confiscated about eight million vapes, valued at more than $230 million, in a national crackdown since the start of 2024.

More than 30 locations were raided in Queensland with about 75,000 vapes and 20 million cigarettes seized in May.

In Victoria, illegal tobacco sales have prompted regular violence, with more than 100 firebombings in two years.

The cigarettes recently seized in NSW are believed to be linked to a syndicate also involved in drug trafficking, with a 42-year-old man charged with additional offences over the haul on Monday.