4 hours ago
4
The tiny, grimy-looking shopfront would look largely innocuous to anyone pulling into the car park at the small shopping strip in Perth’s north.
Passersby would likely never think it had been targeted multiple times allegedly by a crime mob hell-bent on pressuring the owners with violence over the sale of cheap, illegally imported cigarettes.
Being set on fire, allegedly by organised crime employees over illegal tobacco products, hasn’t stopped “convenience stores” around Perth from carrying on their illicit trade.Credit: Rebecca Peppiatt
But four times last year – twice with fire and twice with bullets – the store was attacked in incidents police believe were related to WA’s lucrative illegal tobacco industry.
A month after it was last peppered with bullets, this masthead visited the store to find it back up and running – and openly selling black market cigarettes.
Western Australia’s laws relating to the sale of illegal tobacco products pale in comparison to the rest of Australia, with fines minimal in the face of profits made from selling cigarettes at less than half the price of a legitimate pack.
And the store in Perth’s north is not alone.
This masthead visited almost a dozen shops that have been subjected to arson, ram raids or shootings in the last year, and discovered nearly all were back up and running and still offering black market products to walk-in customers.
Firebombs, shots fired at storefronts, stolen cars driven into buildings and just plain arson are the methods criminal gangs have allegedly used to get their message across, echoing similar “tobacco wars” attacks in Melbourne that at one point claimed the life of an innocent woman last year when the wrong house was targeted.
No one has been convicted since the first West Australian incident in Midland in October 2024, however so far six arrests have been made and those cases are progressing through the courts.
Following that initial incident, shops in Orelia, Cannington, Bunbury, York, Maddington, Baldivis, Huntingdale and Beechboro have also received the same treatment.
A few shut down, but for many, it appears to be business as usual.
An escalating issue
Between October 2024 and October 2025, six stores across the state were attacked in what are believed to be illegal tobacco-related incidents.
However, seven attacks occurred across the state between November 2025 and January 2026, revealing a sharp escalation.
It comes as WA Police set up a taskforce to address the problem, and those who are alleged to be some of the main players running the operation behind bars on a suite of charges.
Legislative change on the agenda when parliament returns
WA only has to look east to see how other states handled – and stamped out – similar crime.
While New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland have “shut-down” laws that allow for convenience stores found selling illicit tobacco products to be closed, WA lacks anything similar.
And while in Victoria, tough penalties of up to $1.7 million in fines and/or 15 years in jail are in store for people there now involved in the trade, WA’s fines are a fraction of that, which the opposition says is not doing enough to deter criminals.
Loading
“In the last eight months, Queensland Health had seized something like 15 million cigarettes and compare that to WA, I think just over a year it sees less than a million cigarettes,” opposition police spokesman Adam Hort told this masthead.
“You look at South Australia, they introduced their store closure legislation in June, July, and it was like something like, within three months, they closed 50.”
Adding to the challenge is the public’s apparent support of cheaper cigarettes and vapes.
A 20 packet of legitimate cigarettes costs between $37 and $62 due to federal government policy that continues to increase the tobacco excise rate in a bid to get smokers to quit.
As of September last year, smokers pay about $1.50 per cigarette in tobacco excise.
However, now illegally imported cigarettes are readily available throughout the city for as little as $15 a packet. Illegal vapes set smokers back more but last far longer.
The WA Department of Health’s latest annual report revealed smoking rates in the state had increase over the past two years to 12 per cent of the population.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has publicly sought harsher penalties and more powers to tackle illegal tobacco and shut down criminally linked stores.
Last week, Health Minister Meredith Hammat said updated tobacco control legislation was in the works, putting it high on the agenda when parliament returns in February.
However, there is no firm timeline in place for when the police commissioner may finally get his wish.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Most Viewed in National
Loading
