SYDNEY: Police expect to make more arrests after disrupting a multi-million-dollar cigarette-smuggling operation in Sydney, involving corrupt waterfront officials, officers say.
Officers from the Polaris Joint Waterfront Taskforce, which comprises the Australian Federal Police (AFP), NSW Police Force, Australian Border Force, and the Australian Crime Commission, charged 12 people following raids on properties in Sydney yesterday morning.
Police said they expected to charge another person today.
Those arrested were aged between 21 and 65, and have been charged with a range of offences, including smuggling and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Police said the group helped smuggle large quantities of illegal cigarettes and tobacco into Australia, including a shipment of 9 million ‘Manchester’ branded cigarettes from the United Arab Emirates, which arrived at Port Botany this month.
The cigarettes had a black market value of about $5.4 million.
It is alleged employees attached to Customs brokerage companies and freight-forwarding firms were paid tens of thousands of dollars to create false declarations and shipping documents to enable the importation.
AFP Acting Deputy Commissioner Operations Ian McCartney said the shipments of illegal cigarettes and tobacco had been collected by a local syndicate and was bound for the black market in Sydney.
“The key aspect for us is the tax not being paid to the Commonwealth Government,” he said.
The syndicate had avoided more than $9.1 million in Customs duties.
The syndicate was also allegedly involved in the supply of commercial quantities of cocaine.
