It’s being labelled as Queensland’s biggest haul – after a raid targeting illegal cigarettes and vapes was carried out in the Mackay region.
The tip off came from Bundaberg – launching a response by Mackay’s Public Health Unit at an illegal warehouse in the region last week.
As a result 3,383,300 illegal cigarettes, 290kg of chop chop (loose tobacco) and 19,818 vapes were seized – which can be compared to the 1.9m cigarettes, 223 kgs of chop chop, and 26,581 vapes seized across the entire state in May.
Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the Mackay raid was the largest single raid on a single premises with the 3.3m cigarettes equating to 165,000 packets with a retail value of $9m.
It also followed the Queensland Health led Operation Appaloosa, which ran across more than 30 locations including in Central Queensland.
