NSW Health seized thousands of e-cigarettes, vapes during Hunter inspections in August

The raids, which took place across Jesmond, Rutherford, Cessnock, Singleton and Muswellbrook from August 28 to 30, resulted in the confiscation of products worth more than $214,000.

The details were released on Monday as NSW Premier Chris Minns announced the government would spend $6.8 million over three years to curb illegal vape sales. More than half that funding will be used to enforce state control laws.

The August inspections came after prosecutions in the Hunter New England Health region during early 2022 and 2020.

A manager at a major tobacconist chain told the Mercury this week she was concerned illegal vape sales were taking up to $10,000 annually from stores doing "legitimate" trade.

She had noticed more customers, particularly young people, requesting nicotine vapes. The store she managed was "not taking risks" because of "increased raids".

"We have had a massive jump in people asking for [nicotine] vapes and asking where you can them from," she said.

The manager said "pirate" tobacconists, which are not registered with the government as such, often used bright coloured packaging and vibrant signage to sell vapes containing nicotine in a way that appealed to young people.

And if businesses were not registered as tobacconists, they could slip under the radar during compliance crack-downs.

"A lot of the time, these stores on not on Google search, so if the police are wanting to do a raid, they may go to those places on Google," she said.

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