00:00A joint police and health task force has charged four people on the New South Wales far north coast with alleged involvement in illicit tobacco trading.
00:09Between Monday, October 27th and Thursday, October 30th, 2025, Strikeforce Franklin detectives seized more than 18,000 vapes, 1.9 million illicit cigarettes, 74 kilograms of loose leaf tobacco and five unregistered firearms.
00:26At 9am on Wednesday, October 29th, a 27-year-old man was arrested at a Mullumbimby storage shed.
00:35Inside the storage units, police found 17,120 vapes, more than 1.8 million cigarettes and 62 kilograms of loose leaf tobacco.
00:47Two men, aged 24 and 41, were arrested at two separate Mullumbimby homes.
00:53At the homes, police found five unregistered firearms, $40,000 in cash, mobile phones, electronic equipment, as well as illicit drugs and vapes.
01:05At 5pm on the same day, a 40-year-old woman was arrested and charged with possessing more than 1,000 times the commercial quantity of vapes,
01:14two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group.
01:19Health inspectors joined New South Wales police officers in carrying out inspections on two tobacconists in the Byron Bay and Tweed Heads areas.
01:291,693 vapes were seized at these locations, as well as 89,746 cigarettes and 11.5 kilograms of loose leaf tobacco.
01:40It's estimated that the total seizure of illicit tobacco and vapes had a street value of about $2,356,905.
01:51$2,356,905.
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