Illicit tobacconists are opening after hours and offering cigarette delivery services in a series of desperate attempts to avoid being raided by authorities.
Multiple businesses in South East Queensland are even suspected of trading behind fake shopfronts, working in alleyways near their stores or reopening in different spots to try and keep their products.
The new tactics come after Queensland Health raided and closed 148 stores in Queensland in the last two weeks, where more than $15m in illegal products were seized.
But industry insiders say organised crime gangs are “one step ahead”, and still ignoring the laws while becoming “remarkably adaptive”.
The Sunday Mail has investigated a number of shops right across Queensland that are opening after 5pm and trading into the night, telling customers to come back after dark to buy illegal smokes. Lines of customers queuing into the street were also spotted at multiple shops in the region.
One industry expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said businesses had figured out how to cheat the system without even opening their doors.
“What they have is a scan card, and they’re giving it out to customers. They scan that and it goes to WhatsApp. They’ve got a platform on that, and they order online. It’s delivered to their door,” she said.
“These guys are just one step ahead and they’re flaunting (sic) the law.”
She said some businesses were taking orders that people could then pick up after 5pm.
“Some of the guys have doubled their prices,” she said.
Queenslanders are also filling online forums desperately asking where to buy vapes.
One post claimed stores near the person posting were closed, but still taking orders via cards handed out by someone “sitting out the front”.
“You fill in a form with your order,” they wrote. “Minimum order applies.”
Others named other outlets in Thornlands, Birkdale and Cleveland’s Middle St were still operating in short windows, with one user warning “they’re all closing due to the blitz”.
Some reported stocking up ahead of the crackdown, while some shops continued handing out promotional cards despite shutters being down.
Another industry expert said the shops were proving adaptive.
“While Queensland’s laws are strong … enforcement must evolve to counter tech-driven tactics and the resilience of organised crime,” he said.
“(Some) operators continue to exploit loopholes and with the black market accounting for well over half of all tobacco sold in Australia, there is simply far too much money at stake for criminal syndicates to stop.”
A Queensland Health spokesman said the laws were their toughest in the nation.
