Bootleg tobacco worth $120,000 in excise tax

Nearly four tonnes of illegal tobacco seized near Motueka and potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on the black market may only be a fraction of what is being produced.

On Tuesday, customs officers swooped on private properties, mainly in the Motueka Valley, seizing more than 300kg of processed tobacco and about 3.8 tonnes of tobacco leaf.

While he would not give a figure, Customs Service fraud spokesman Terry Brown said a large amount of cash, believed to be the proceeds from sales of illegal tobacco, was seized with manufacturing equipment.

An unlicensed manufacturing facility was found, elaborately designed and disguised to avoid detection, he said.

Tobacco can be manufactured in a licensed area only.

The 300kg of processed tobacco alone was worth about $120,000 in excise tax and the amount of leaf seized showed there was potential to process much more, said Mr Brown.

Customs would prosecute over the illegal tobacco find, he said. But it was likely that rather than being arrested, those allegedly involved would be summoned to court.

Mr Brown said Customs targeted specific people in the latest bust based on "overwhelming" information it had received.

He could not say the raids had put an end to the black market tobacco industry.

"We'd be naive to say we've stopped it."

Most illegal tobacco was produced in the Motueka area, he said, but how much was distributed and sold on the black market throughout New Zealand was hard to say.

- NZPA