Illegal tobacco retailer hit with $1.5-million fine as following record seizure in Queensland

A Victorian retailer has been fined $1.5 million following a court case over Queensland's largest-ever illegal tobacco seizure.

Tobacco Shed Pty Ltd company director Paolo Timpano pleaded guilty to 50 charges in the Emerald Magistrates Court on Friday in relation to the retail sale of illicit tobacco, nicotine vapes, candy flavoured cigarettes, bongs and loose-leaf tobacco.

The charges stemmed from multiple seizures across Central Queensland and on the Gold Coast.

Prosecutor Kim Bryson submitted that the company should be fined $200,000, but Magistrate Cameron McKenzie ordered a fine more than seven times greater.

"The penalty must be reflective of the criminality of the offending," Magistrate McKenzie said.

"It must also be a deterrent to other peddlers of illegal tobacco and vape pr