{"id":19141,"date":"2025-05-11T16:39:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T15:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=19141"},"modified":"2025-08-10T17:02:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T16:02:45","slug":"media-statement-record-breaking-raids-in-war-on-illicit-tobacco-and-dangerous-vapes-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/05\/media-statement-record-breaking-raids-in-war-on-illicit-tobacco-and-dangerous-vapes-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"MEDIA STATEMENT: Record-breaking raids in war on illicit tobacco and dangerous vapes – Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Statement by the Queensland Cabinet and Ministerial Directory<\/h2>\n
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Published Tuesday, 06 May, 2025 at 10:09 AM<\/small><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Honourable Tim Nicholls – Minister for Health and Ambulance Services<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Record-breaking raids in war on illicit tobacco and dangerous vapes<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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  • Queensland has seized the nation\u2019s largest ever haul of illegal cigarettes and vapes by a health authority, under Queensland Health-led Operation Appaloosa.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  • More than 30 locations were raided, with 76,000 vapes, 19 million cigarettes and 3.6 tonnes of loose tobacco seized.<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  • The raids come as more than $5 million in fines were issued in the first week of the Government\u2019s nation-leading fines \u2013 over $1 million more than in the final four months of Labor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
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    Queensland has stepped up the war against illicit tobacco and dangerous vapes, with the nation\u2019s largest ever haul of illegal products by a health authority, in an effort to keep them out of the hands of kids.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    More than 76,000 vapes, 19 million illicit cigarettes and 3.6 tonnes of loose illicit tobacco \u2013 with a combined estimated street value of $20.8 million – were seized during the record-breaking Operation Appaloosa in March.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Queensland Health raided more than 30 locations across Central Queensland, Wide Bay, Metro North, Metro South, and West Moreton, supported by the Queensland Police Service and the Therapeutic Goods Administration.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This crackdown came ahead of the 3 April 2025 commencement of the nation\u2019s toughest on-the-spot fines for the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes, which means individuals can be fined $32,260 and businesses up to $161,300 if caught selling illicit tobacco and vapes.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In just the very first week of these new fines, illegal traders were hit with fines totalling $5,094,560. To put that into perspective, Labor averaged less than $250,000 in fines per week in their final months in office.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Minister for Health Tim Nicholls said the Crisafulli Government was determined to keep dangerous vapes out of the hands of children by stamping out illegal chop shops.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cLabor allowed\u00a0organised crime gangs to set up illegal chop shops in plain sight across the State, putting our kids at great risk,\u201d Minister Nicholls said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    “We need to do everything possible to keep dangerous illegal vapes away from Queensland\u2019s young people, which is why we\u2019ve boosted enforcement and introduced serious new fines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cWe\u2019re hitting these illegal traders where it hurts most, by seizing their illicit goods to deprive them of generating a profit and hitting them with the nation\u2019s toughest fines.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cThe is the latest in our crackdown on illegal chop shops and we\u2019ll continue to target this\u00a0organised crime and keep dangerous vapes out of the hands of kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    Illicit tobacco or vape sales can be reported via the\u00a0<\/span>Queensland Health website<\/span><\/span>\u00a0or calling\u00a0<\/span>13 QGOV (13 74 68).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Source: https:\/\/statements.qld.gov.au\/statements\/102504#:~:text=Queensland%20has%20s<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Statement by the Queensland Cabinet and Ministerial Directory Published Tuesday, 06 May, 2025 at 10:09 AM The Honourable Tim Nicholls – Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Record-breaking raids in war on illicit tobacco and dangerous vapes Queensland has seized the nation\u2019s largest ever haul of illegal cigarettes and vapes by a health authority, under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,32,130,134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia","category-crime-violence-prison","category-tobacco-smoking","category-vaping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}