The police taskforce established to combat the illicit tobacco trade will soon be no more.
Victoria Police have announced that Taskforce Lunar will transition back into the Gang Crime Squad on 1 November.
Taskforce Lunar was established in October 2023 following a significant increase in organised crime activity linked to the illicit tobacco trade, in particular an escalation in arson and extortions within tobacco retail outlets.
But from the start of next month, the Gang Crime Squad will assume responsibility for tackling the illicit tobacco trade in Victoria and will take over all current Taskforce Lunar investigations, including matters before court.
As part of the changes, Victoria Police will also increase collaboration with several Australian law enforcement agencies, including the Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force, and will look at several new joint strategies to prevent and disrupt offending by entities in Victoria, across Australia and internationally that are linked to the illicit tobacco trade.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Crime Command Martin O’Brien said the move was necessary in order to keep up with the various organised crime entities involved in the illicit tobacco trade.
“As the landscape has evolved, and the nature of offending in Victoria has started to change, we recognise the need for even greater collaboration with our law enforcement partners to target those involved in criminality here in Victoria but based overseas,” Mr O’Brien said.
“The creation of Taskforce Lunar also allowed us to build significant new intelligence around these organised crime syndicates, which we also shared with a range of licensing and enforcement agencies.
“There is an added complexity to targeting those syndicate leaders offshore, however it is crucial if we want to affect long-term change locally. More importantly, we can only make a difference long term by working in collaboration with our law enforcement partners.
“We have had a number of successes here in Victoria where we have been able to identify offenders and put them before the court. Under Operation Lunar we will continue to target those offenders, while also expanding our focus on the international links in an effort to disrupt and dismantle these syndicates at every level.”
