The Australian Government's investment of $188.5 million in the Australian Border Force to combat illicit tobacco, has led to record results detecting, seizing and disrupting illicit tobacco and the criminals operating in the black market.
The ABF's Operation PRINTWALL has now surpassed over a kilotonne of illicit tobacco detected across the border continuum, with the ABF delivering its largest week of seizures since the operation commenced in December 2025 - with over 87 tonnes of illicit tobacco seized in just one week from 13 April 2026. This comes on the back of a record month of seizures in March 2026.
Complementing these strong results, the Australian Government has also:
- introduced the Combatting Illicit Tobacco Bill 2026, which increases penalties for illicit tobacco offences, attracting up to 15 years imprisonment for some offences, and gives enforcement and intelligence agencies the tools they need to better track and intercept criminal networks
- introduced the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2026 which will give the AUSTRAC CEO new powers to restrict or prohibit high-risk mechanisms, such as crypto ATMs, being exploited by criminal actors to move money
- confirmed that the commencement of new AML/CT laws from 1 July 2026 ensure that real estate agents, accountants, lawyers, professional service advisers are also part of Australia's defences against serious and organised crime and the illicit tobacco trade.
Outcomes from the Australian Border Force's (ABF) Illicit Tobacco National Disruption Group's (NDG) second Week of Action demonstrates the impact of strong national collaboration, and has put criminals and enablers operating in the black market on notice.
Coordinated by the ABF, the NDG leverages intelligence, regulatory and enforcement capabilities from 29 State and Federal Agencies to maximise disruption efforts against criminals and enablers across the entire illicit tobacco supply chain. In doing so, the NDG ensures that Australia's response to illicit tobacco is a unified national response that goes beyond individual seizures to deliver coordinated, multi‑agency disruption across the entire illicit tobacco supply chain."
Between Monday 20 to Friday 24 April, the Australian Border Force (ABF), NSW Health, NSW Police, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Access Canberra and ACT Police targeted 34 locations across NSW and the ACT as part of a high visibility week of action to dismantle and disrupt illicit tobacco networks.
Results from the operation included:
- Seizure of approximately 2,969,000 illicit cigarettes, over 185kg loose‑leaf tobacco and over 98,500 vaping devices.
- Seizure of over AUD $27,000 cash
- Issued short term closure orders at 23 non‑compliant retailers and the re-closure under an existing order or one retail store
- Identified 15 persons of interest
- Total of approximately AUD $4.23 million in estimated duty evaded and street value combined
Combined with results from the first Week of Action in QLD and SA, totals across the four jurisdictions include:
- Seizure of approximately 5,969,000 illicit cigarettes, over 511kg loose‑leaf tobacco and over 117,540 vaping devices.
- Seizure of over AUD $2,154,000 cash
- Issued short term closure orders at 48 non‑compliant retailers and the re-closure under an existing order or one retail store
- Seizure of illicit property including several vehicles totalling over AUD $700,000 street value
- Identified 85 persons of interest
- Total of approximately AUD $9.23 million in estimated duty evaded
Together, these record detections, impressive disruption outcomes, new laws and tougher penalties demonstrate the Australian Government's focus on hardening the environment against organised crime - to squeeze supply, disrupt illicit business models and strengthen consequences for illicit trade.
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs, Julian Hill
"This is a long tough fight to protect a new generation from the scourge of tobacco related disease and early death, but we are seeing are seeing strong momentum across the states, territories and the Commonwealth, with stronger laws and regulatory capability enhanced across all jurisdictions to fight this black market together.
"I pay tribute to Australian Border Force officers and their Commonwealth and State and Territory partners for their work, often in dangerous circumstances to disrupt the illicit trade. Their work has kept over one kilotonne of tobacco off the streets since Operation PRINTWALL began.
"The Illicit tobacco market is a hostile environment, as these criminal groups generate obscene profits, which are re-invested to fund other serious criminal activities, such as illicit drug trafficking, money laundering, human trafficking and child sexual exploitation and abuse.
"In addition to the $345 million invested in measures to fight the illicit markets, since 2023-24 the Australian Government has also committed more than $100 million to motivate and support people to quit smoking and vaping.
