Sweeping reforms announced to stamp out WA’s ‘tobacco thugs’

The West Australian government has announced sweeping reforms of the state’s tobacco laws to stamp out “tobacco thugs” on the back of the biggest seizure of illicit products in the state’s history.

Under the proposed changes to the Tobacco Products Control Act 2006, the maximum penalty for possession of a large commercial quantity of illicit tobacco and vaping products would be $4.2 million for an individual or $21 million for a company, and 15 years imprisonment – the highest of any jurisdiction.

Store closure orders of up to 90 days would also be introduced, meaning businesses supplying illegal products will not be able to operate while investigations take place.

The state government will give parliament notice of the new laws on Tuesday.

Premier Roger Cook described the illegal trade as a “scourge on our society”.

“Make no mistake about it, organised crime is at the heart of our illicit tobacco trade,” he said.

“They don’t care how they put people in the line of fire to carry out their insidious illegal activities.

“These tobacco thugs must be stopped.”

Police Minister Reece Whitby said officers had cracked down on the black market trade after a series of attacks including firebombings and shootings on smoke shops across Perth.

Whitby said since January 2025, police had seized 1.26 million illicit cigarettes, 467 kilograms of tobacco, almost 17,000 illegal vapes, $770,000 of cash, while parcels containing a further $1.7 million had been intercepted in WA and Victoria.

As a result, 19 people have been charged with related offending.

Police have also focused their efforts on the Hamad family crime syndicate, who they believe were trying to expand their monopoly of the illicit tobacco trade to WA.

Kazem Hamad was allegedly calling the shots from the Middle East, while his brother Maytham Hamad, been charged with knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime to the value of more than $1 million, as well as possessing prohibited tobacco products (Maytham has not been charged in connection with any other of Kazem’s alleged criminal activity).

Both brothers are now in custody – Kazem in Iraq and Maytham in WA, where his case remains before the courts.

Whitby said police had allegedly interrupted Kazem Hamad’s syndicate and executed the “largest single seizure of illegal tobacco in state history”, off the back of a number of arrests following an attempted attack on a Rockingham convenience store.

Detectives attended a unit on Focal Way in Bayswater and seized more than 3.9 million cigarettes, 3900 vapes and 288 kilograms of loose tobacco.

The total retail value of those items was about $4.5 million dollars.

“WA Police intelligence indicates that this particular seizure has had a significant impact on the Hamad syndicate’s operation,” Whitby said.

“The single seizure represents a figure four times larger than the total the WA Police have seized in the last 12 months.

“This is significant. This is even before these new laws take effect. In terms of other syndicates operating, I’m loath to go into it in detail because this is important intelligence that our police are operating with.”

Health Minister Meredith Hammat said collaboration with WA Police was important in disrupting the supply chains that provided products to retail stores.

She said WA Health would work closely with police as part of a compliance unit to identify the shops selling the illegal products and shut them down for up to 90 days, “hitting them where it hurts”.

“Reasonable suspicion will be sufficient for a 72-hour closure and there will be a higher standard for a closure of up to 90 days,” Hammat said.

“Those closure orders will be a way that we can disrupt the trade quickly and make sure that we’re putting a stop to the sale of those illicit products.”

A second tranche of legislation is expected by the end of the year, and will look at more complex laws including a landlord’s right to evict tenants found to be part of the illicit trade.

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