Three people have been arrested after allegedly smuggling nearly 500,000 cigarettes into the country.
Two men and one woman, who are all Malaysian nationals, have been charged with defrauding Customs revenue, importing prohibited goods, and making erroneous Customs entries.
The arrests come after a Customs investigation which was launched after a New Zealand company's address had been used on import documents — the business was not informed of this.
Customs linked the import to the Malaysian nationals, who arrived in the country a few weeks prior.
It was also found they had falsified import documents by using the names of legitimate companies, directing their shipments to a residential address and storage unit in Auckland.
It was found the three had allegedly smuggled 481,640 cigarettes into New Zealand, dodging around $675,000 in tobacco taxes.
"Illicit tobacco is not a victimless crime. It takes money out of our communities and puts it into the pockets of criminals. As this case shows, we are on to them and will take every step to ensure they face the consequences," chief customs officer for fraud and prohibited Nigel Barnes said.
"We urge anyone who knows of someone or suspects someone who is dealing in the illegal tobacco trade to contact Customs via Border Protect, our 24-hour confidential hotline."
All three are set to appear in the North Shore District Court today.
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