Snowy Valleys Police assisted a partner agency with a raid on an illicit tobacco farm near Tumbarumba on Thursday 31 March, and as well as illicit tobacco, police also located an unregistered high powered rifle with ammunition.

It has been illegal to grow tobacco in Australia for more than a decade and the ATO said penalties for growing, selling or possessing illicit tobacco were significant.

If convicted, criminals may face up to 10 years' imprisonment, up to a $330,000 fine, or both.

This is the second tobacco seizure in the Riverina in recent months.

In February, an Australian Taxation Office-led operation uncovered more than 250,000 kilograms of illicit tobacco in Koraleigh, a small western Riverina village on the Murray River south of Tooleybuc.

Crops with an estimated excise forgone value of about $42 million were destroyed.

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Acting ATO Assistant Commissioner Megan Croaker said at the time that the amount of illicit tobacco found was equivalent to the weight of 13 bulldozers.

"Organised criminals view the illicit tobacco trade as low-risk and high-reward, but this simply isn't the case," she said.

"By stopping illicit tobacco from going from crop to shop, it creates a level playing field for small businesses."

According to the ATO, the 2019-20 tax gap estimates that illicit tobacco cost the Australian community $909 million in lost excise revenue each year.

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