No Jail for Illegal Tobacco

Source from:  news.com.au January 16, 2008 01/17/2008

A QUEENSLAND man has escaped serving any jail time despite pleading guilty to manufacturing large quantities of illegal tobacco. Emir Omerdic appeared in the Brisbane District Court charged with one count of unlawfully manufacturing excisable goods, one count of unlawful possession of excisable goods and one count of unlawful possession of tobacco leaf. The court heard that Omerdic, who fled Bosnia during the 1993 conflict, was found with 400 kilograms of "chop-chop" with an excise value of $121,000 when police raided the 49-year-old's Eight Mile Plains home, in Brisbane's southern suburbs. Police located an elaborate manufacturing set-up, including a cutting machine, cutting press and scales, and 102 one kilogram bags of tobacco, another 18kgs of cut tobacco and 288kg of tobacco leaf. The Crown said that deliberately defrauding the revenue of the Commonwealth was a serious offence and that Omerdic was caught with "not an insignificant amount" of illegal tobacco. They also asked that Omerdic receive a one-year jail term to deter others from a practice that places pressure on legitimate businesses and works on a cash-only basis. Omerdic's defence barrister said that a "friend" of his client was the Mr Big of the operation and that he rented his garage to his "friend" for $500 but admitted helping him manufacture the tobacco. However, Senior Judge Tony Skoien sentenced Omerdic to 12 months but to be released immediately. "It is funny in all these chop-chop operations where they always seem to be doing it for a friend but they don't remember their names or have lost contact with them," he said. "The offence is a serious one because it hurts many Australians in the hip pocket. Not only in the amount of excise duty that is lost, but also, in every case, I imagine, in losses to the taxation office and the effect of unlawful competition on legitimate growers and manufacturers." Enditem