Black market in tobacco booming in the streets of Sydney, with cheap Asian imports flooding the streets

IT IS emerging as one of the most lucrative illegal trades on the streets of Sydney’s southwest, but it’s not drug dealing or car boosting — it’s smuggling cigarettes. Last month, in seven raids across Fairfield and Bankstown, police seized more than 500,000 smuggled cigarettes and $1 million cash.

Detective Superintendent Murray Chapman, from the NSW Property Crime Squad, said illicit cigarettes were usually made in South-East Asian factories before being smuggled into Australia and sold in legitimate businesses.  “We have been made aware of cases where fake cigarettes have been found to contain mould, faeces and even asbestos,” Supt Chapman said.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/news/black-market-in-tobacco-booming-in-the-streets-of-sydney-with-cheap-asian-imports-flooding-the-streets/story-fngr8gwi-1227052708386?nk=4200a4ab89ee6f799ef38d0e7c4df544