Organised crime dominates Australian cigarette market, fueling a massive black-sale trade
A Sydney shop owner admits selling contraband cigarettes, a practice that sustains the business as illegal tobacco accounts for 80% of nicotine consumption in Australia.
A modest retailer on a bustling Sydney thoroughfare openly lists the cost of smuggled cigarettes on a handwritten board, offering them at lower cash prices than licensed products. The shop's staff confess to feeling nervous about the illegal activity but stress that the black-market sales keep the business afloat. Recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal that illicit tobacco now makes up 80% of all nicotine consumed across the continent, a dramatic increase from just 12% eight years ago.
The agency arrived at this estimate by measuring nicotine residues in wastewater and comparing them with official sales data for cigarettes, e-cigarettes and related products. The surge underscores the growing influence of organised crime in Australia's tobacco supply chain.
Why it matters
The story highlights how organised crime now controls most of Australia's tobacco market, affecting public health and tax revenue.
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