The Federal Government voted in 2016 to increase the tax on tobacco by 12.5 per cent annually over a four year period.

The first increase came into effect on September 1 this year and will be followed each year until 2020.

It means a packet of cigarettes that was valued at $25 before September 1 now costs more than $28. By 2020 that same packet will cost about $40.

“Cigarettes have more value than other items, and they’re an attractive item to criminals,” Central Hunter acting crime manager Detective Sergeant Mitch Dubojski said.

“It’s something we’re conscious of.”

A recent example of the desire for stolen cigarettes was a break and enter at Coles Rutherford late on Monday night.

The offender tried to bust open the cigarette cabinet, but had to settle for small, loose items instead.

Sergeant Dubojski said the incident exemplified the lengths businesses had gone to in order to keep their cigarettes safe.

“People are spending a fortune to protect them,” Sergeant Dubojski said.

“They’re having to introduce extra security, which is money they could be using to pay additional staff.”

Sergeant Dubojski said police had not seen an “outbreak” in the number of cigarette theft incidents. But he believed the extra security businesses were putting in place was helping prevent that, which was proven in the Rutherford incident.

“The offenders had ample time, but couldn’t force entry to the cabinet,” he said.

Sergeant Dubojski said cigarettes were hard for police to trace, especially if they were stolen by the carton.

There is also a market for smokes in prisons since tobacco was banned from NSW correctional centres in 2015.

But Sergeant Dubojski did not believe this had led to more cigarette thefts from retail businesses.