Black market hiding illegal cigarettes in plain sight

Counterfeit cigarettes in plain packaging are being produced at an industrial scale in Southeast Asia, prompting calls for tougher laws.

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Intelligence provided to the federal government shows cigarettes in plain, Australian-style packaging are being produced illegally at an industrial scale in Southeast Asian warehouses.

Factories owned and operated by criminal syndicates, primarily based in Cambodia, are pumping out increasingly sophisticated fake products that replicate common brands.

Some of the counterfeit packaging is even branded with Australian health warnings, making it difficult to distinguish from legitimate products.

The production has prompted Customs Minister Julian Hill to urge his parliamentary counterparts to pass tough laws as soon as possible.

A new bill on tobacco trade is expected to be debated in the Senate on Thursday, which would give law enforcement stronger powers to detect and disrupt illegal tobacco trade lines.

However, Minister Hill is concerned that the sophisticated overseas production is becoming increasingly hard to notice or stop, highlighting the urgency of equipping state, territory, and commonwealth authorities with new powers.

Several states and territories have been cracking down on enforcement measures, including blitzes of black market shopfronts, with Queensland taking the hardest line and seeing an increase in legal cigarette sales as a result.