Australian Border Force (ABF) officers posted overseas in Beijing have prevented over 600,000 illegal vapes from hitting Australia’s streets after information sharing led to the referral of almost 70 high risk containers.
The majority of the seized vapes - which had a street value of approximately $30 million, arrived into NSW between September and October 2025.
The information allowed ABF officers to identify several other shipments related to the initial referrals, with majority of the containers falsely described as items such as glass bottles, lamps, toy cars, balls, curtains, and books in an attempt to evade border detection.
This year, the ABF has received over 1,000 referrals from offshore counterparts, stopping over 524 million cigarette sticks, over 1 million vapes, and over 918 tonnes of loose-leaf tobacco from entering Australia.
Acting Commander of Targeting, Laura Uttley said a key element of the ABF’s strategy for combatting illicit tobacco and vapes and other prohibited goods is to disrupt the flow into Australia as far upstream from the border as possible.
“The engagement that goes on behind the scenes with our international partner agencies needs to be commended – ABF officers posted overseas are dedicated to developing and nurturing international relationships which have led to enormous amounts of illicit tobacco, vapes and other high-risk commodities being stopped at the border,” Uttley said.
“This outcome is a testament to our officers both offshore and onshore who have turned information into action, and who have not only stopped dangerous and illegal goods from entering our country, but who have further built on our understanding of how threat actors are attempting to exploit the Australian border, increasing our ability to detect and seize more suspicious consignments”.
This result follows on from last year’s record-breaking referral where over 691,000 vapes – the largest detection to date, were seized between September and October 2024 following referral from an international partner.
