Overview
- Federal police raided homes, storage units and a tobacconist across the South West and Peel on Thursday, charging a 47-year-old woman, her 68-year-old father and her 26-year-old son-in-law.
- Officers seized about $1 million in cash, roughly five tonnes of tobacco products and nearly 30,000 vapes, with large cash hauls and counting machines allegedly found at homes in Coodanup and Eaton.
- The 26-year-old was arrested at a Bunbury shopping centre and charged for failing to provide access to his phone, as further illicit products were allegedly uncovered in storage units in Mandurah, Bunbury and Busselton.
- The AFP says the illicit tobacco trade is linked to organised crime and recent violence, and investigations continue into broader syndicates, including possible offshore direction.
- In a separate state case, 38-year-old Anthony James Owen Sefonte was charged over the January 4 Bunbury firebombing, with police alleging he possessed a homemade firearm, ammunition and drugs when arrested; he was remanded to February 11.