Former wife of tobacco baron alleges horrific life entangled in illegal trade

Kawther Salih says she was subjugated into working in the underground tobacco industry. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi) Link copiedShareShare articleKawther Salih recalls knowing nothing about being married, other than that you wore a white dress, when she became the teen bride of a man who later pleaded guilty to helping fuel Australia's illegal nicotine trade. From that arranged marriage, Ms Salih says, the situation spiralled into an abusive relationship that saw her being subjugated to working in the underground tobacco industry. "It was like forced labour on women … it was a nasty situation," she tells the ABC. Her anecdotes, from seeing tobacco smuggled in via fake doors to being forced to pack chop-chop into sealed lunch bags, provide another insight into a booming trade of cheap illegal tobacco. Kawther Salih says she knows how fearful women in similar situations can be. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi) That trade, which the Illicit Tobacco Commissioner estimates is worth up to $7 billion, is viewed through a myriad of lenses. Those range from questions about policy failures after government taxes skyrocketed on legal tobacco products, to splashes of arson-fuelled violence. "But nobody [knows] about how we lived," Ms Salih said. "It was horror." She's small but speaks strongly and calmly. She acknowledged that speaking about her situation was potentially risky. Do you know more? Contact Liam Walsh on encrypted email or Signal. Please note end-to-end encryption is only possible with your own encrypted email system like Protonmail or Signal account. Ms Salih said she was 17 and living in Iran when she was wed in an arranged marriage to Sam Albion, then in his mid-20s and known as Mohammad Al Dilami. She had never been with a man before. The wedding photos show her dressed in white, cutting a cake. Albion, originally from Iraq, had already migrated to Australia and returned with Ms Salih in the late 2000s. They eventually settled around Queensland's south-east about 2013. Sam Albion and Ms Salih settled around Queensland's south-east about 2013 after their arranged wedding. (Supplied) Business records indicate that Albion listed his involvement in the tobacco trade beginning in the early 2020s. Ms Salih said people that Albion was involved with had twigged to the industry during a Sydney trip. "They discovered they can buy the smokes a lot cheaper," she said. "They started opening up their shops. And it was very successful. They were making a lot of money." Business records list five south-east Queensland stores to Albion. Some were trouble. On one rainy Thursday in December 2022, police conducted a 1pm raid on his Deception Bay Tobacconist and Gifts store, confiscating 2,147 illegal nicotine vapes of assorted flavours and 53 hollowed-out plastic knuckledusters that could also be used for smoking. The next day, when authorities probed again, the store was again "fully stocked up with nicotine-based vapes", prosecutors said, according to a court transcript obtained by the ABC. They seized another 1,581 illegal vapes. Sam Albion pleaded guilty to supplying illegal vapes. (Supplied: Facebook) "This was clearly a commercial operation, undertaken for profit. What's disturbing about this is even after having been raided [once], that had no deterrent aspect at all," Magistrate Mark Bucknall said. Albion pleaded guilty to offences including supplying illegal vapes and was fined $7,500. His lawyer said Albion then had just three stores — one was unprofitable — and earned about $3,000 a week. There was also the Browns Plains Tobacconist, registered to Mr Albion's business, Samco Solutions, in Logan. It was nestled near a giant yellow Mr Toys shop and had a private ATM. In mid-2024, authorities raided the venue, seizing almost 130,000 cigarettes and 150 kilograms of loose tobacco. Mr Albion's Browns Plains store was twice burned down last year. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi) In the background, Ms Salih said that wives were forced to assist in the trade. Sometimes it was solo. Occasionally, there might be four or five women gathered, she said. Ms Salih described seeing tobacco come compressed inside fake doors or audio speakers. Women would unpack the tobacco, fluff it out, spray water, and even put it in the microwave. She wore gloves. Women who did not, she recalled, could develop fungal infections on their hands. Ms Salih says wives were forced to assist the trade by unpacking the tobacco, fluffing and spraying it, even putting it in the microwave. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi) They might also handle cash. The smell of tobacco reeked. "They would force us to … pack the tobacco in bags of 20 grams, I think, 50 grams or 100, something like that," she recalled. "Things that we didn't want to do. But we were forced." Ms Salih detailed an isolating environment of culture shock, of seeing violence against other women and being hit herself, of still learning English and not understanding what rights women hav

Former wife of tobacco baron alleges horrific life entangled in illegal trade

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