Oz tobacco smuggler in record fine
A SYDNEY man who tried to smuggle four separate shipments of illegal tobacco and cigarettes through Port Botany has been handed a record fine by the New South Wales Supreme Court.
Ramez Nabhan was penalised over A$11.4M ($7.7M) for illegally importing 12,592kg of tobacco and more than one million cigarettes in sea cargo consignments from China and Indonesia in late 2006/early 2007.
After being inspected at the Sydney Container Examination Facility, the shipments were found to contain loose leaf and manufactured tobacco and concealed cigarettes.
Customs and Border Protection charged Nabhan with four counts of smuggling goods and four counts of evading payment of duty.
He was ordered to pay a penalty of A$8,100,000 plus A$3,395,709 in reparation to the Commonwealth, as well as court costs.