Arabic version: بائع تبغ في داروين يتجنب السجن بعد مصادرة 110,000 سيجارة
A former manager of a Darwin tobacconist has avoided immediate jail after pleading guilty to possessing a large consignment of illegally imported tobacco.
He had been managing a tobacconist in Winnellie.
According to ABC News, police intercepted a courier delivery from Victoria that contained 110,000 cigarettes and 336 kilograms of loose tobacco packaged as Chinese tea. The court heard the shipment had been organised through the courier service Pack & Send and that the scheme enabled the evasion of more than $770,000 in Commonwealth taxes.
Mohammed Aloachey, 30, pleaded guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to one count of possessing tobacco with intent to defraud the Commonwealth in 2024. Justice Jenny Blokland described the offending as a “reasonably serious example of offending of this kind,” noting the operation took planning and set-up even if Aloachey’s role was not highly sophisticated. The court heard Aloachey had previously been fined $5,000 for tobacco-related offending in Victoria.
The judge warned the community about the broader implications of illicit tobacco trade, saying “there’s a lot of community concern [about] this style of offending because of what it leads to.” Justice Blokland said offending of this kind can invite larger networks and “even transnational crime,” and that it undermines revenue-raising and taxation in respect of a dangerous yet lawful product. Aloachey’s lawyer told the court his client was the child of refugee parents who had fled Iraq and that Aloachey had since “distanced himself” from illicit tobacconists in Melbourne.
This case matters to readers because it illustrates the scale of tax revenue lost to illicit tobacco operations and the potential for such networks to expand beyond local trafficking. The amount of tobacco seized and the Crown’s estimate of more than $770,000 in evaded taxes show why courts and police treat these offences as significant for public revenue and community safety.
What happens next: Justice Blokland sentenced Aloachey to 14 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended on the condition he remain of good behaviour, and warned that any future involvement in similar offending would likely attract an actual jail term.
Related sections: Australia/استراليا | Northern Territory | General | Economy/اقتصاد | Victoria
