A Coburg North man working behind the counter of a Bridge Mall gift shop found to be selling illegal cigarettes, tobacco and vapes has been fined for his involvement in the operation.
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Ahmed Dabboussi, 39, appeared at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to plead guilty to charges of possessing illicit substances after a police raid at the smoke shop he was working in on October 2023.
The raid came after a police VIPER squad investigation into Victoria's illegal tobacco trade, named Operation Solar.
The court heard the operation began after arson attacks on 34 businesses in Melbourne in relation to the illegal trade, and saw 56 search warrants issued on businesses across the state.
Police searched the Bridge Mall business Dabboussi worked at on October 26, 2023, with the store solely manned by Dabboussi behind the counter.
In the front of the store, police found 59,000 illegal cigarettes, either not in plain packaging as required by law or illegally imported to avoid paying customs duty.
Police also found 10.75kg of illegal loose leaf tobacco and 887 illegal nicotine vapes.
Searching the back storeroom, police found a further 5400 cigarettes, 4.2kg of loose leaf tobacco and 37 vapes.
Dabboussi was arrested on site and made a no comment interview.
The court heard Dabboussi had been driving up from Coburg, in Melbourne, several times a week to work at the Bridge Mall store and was paid cash in hand.
It was not alleged Dabboussi owned the store or played a role in the stocking of its inventory.
Dabboussi's defence lawyer sought a non-conviction sentence for his client, meaning he would walk out without the offending on his criminal record.
The lawyer argued a conviction would impact Dabboussi's ability to find work in the security industry, and that there were other "big fish" responsible for the sale of the illegal goods.
Magistrate Gulliame Bailin recognised Dabboussi's minor role in the larger import and illegal trade of tobacco in Victoria, but said people like him were still "integral" to the larger criminal enterprise.
"This is not too dissimilar to any other drug enterprise," the magistrate said.
"The criminality that flows is that unless there are people willing to staff a business where these goods will be stored and or sold... the operation will not continue.
Magistrate Bailin said Dabboussi would be convicted, due to a need to deter others from engaging in similar offending.
"The fact that there are 59,000 (illegal) cigarettes in the front room... it is a not insignificant amount of illicit material being stored," the magistrate said.
"It ought to have given your client concern that something illicit was going on here."
Dabboussi was fined $2000 with conviction.
Magistrate Bailin said if Dabboussi had pleaded not guilty and was then found guilty, he would have been given a $10,000 fine.
