The Australian Border Force led Illicit Tobacco National Disruption Group (NDG) has concluded the second phase of Operation SHORTHAND and will use information and intelligence gathered to conduct further disruptions to the distribution and supply of illicit tobacco and associated criminal activity.
Multi Agency Strike Team (MAST) detectives have charged seven people and dismantled two criminal networks valued at $80 million, following combined investigations into trusted insiders, allegedly importing illicit tobacco and vapes into Australia.
Three members of a Melbourne-based criminal syndicate, with alleged links to Italian organised crime, were today (16 July, 2026) sentenced for conspiring to import over 500 kilograms of cocaine into Australia from Papua New Guinea.
The Australian Border Force’s National Disruption Group has coordinated swift action across Victoria and Tasmania, targeting illegal tobacco and vaping markets.
Crime has fundamentally changed, and the pace of that change is increasing rapidly. It will not slow down. We need to work differently to keep up.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett and ACIC CEO Heather Cook will help spearhead new tech partnerships and AI solutions at a meeting with Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group agencies in London this week.
Law enforcement agencies across Australia and New Zealand have carried out a coordinated National Day of Action targeting the Hells Angels Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMCG).
The second official operation of the Australian Border Force (ABF)-led Illicit Tobacco National Disruption Group (NDG) across New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has resulted in:
A NSW man was charged with allegedly importing 200kg of cocaine last week, after police found the drugs on the catamaran he was sailing near the Queensland-NSW border.
Nine men have been charged for their alleged links to a syndicate behind a large-scale conspiracy to import tonnes of illicit drugs into Victoria and traffic drugs around the country.