{"id":69504,"date":"2026-08-11T09:21:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T09:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/69504\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T09:21:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T09:21:23","slug":"blair-athol-metro-petroleum-servos-raided-over-alleged-illegal-tobacco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/69504\/","title":{"rendered":"Blair Athol Metro Petroleum servos raided over alleged illegal tobacco"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Adelaide petrol station has been raided by federal officers and temporarily shut down after an investigation into the supply and distribution of illegal tobacco.<\/p>\n

Metro Petroleum\u2019s Blair Athol servo was issued a short-term closure order on Tuesday morning after a raid by an Australian Border Force task force named Shorthand.<\/p>\n

The co-ordinated raids took place at Metro Petroleum servos across the country \u2013 in South Australia, NSW, Victoria and Queensland \u2013 part of a significant probe into the discount fuel giant, the nation\u2019s largest independent petrol station.<\/p>\n

An employee at the Prospect Rd servo said officers arrived at the business on Tuesday morning to \u201ccheck in on the cigarettes\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything will be closed,\u201d they said. \u201cI\u2019ll have to find another job. I\u2019m nervous because I need a job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The servo was issued with a 28-day closure effective from midnight Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Started more than 40 years ago by brothers John and George Dib, Metro Petroleum now operates more than 300 sites nationwide, with an estimated wealth of nearly $1bn.<\/p>\n

The brothers are not accused of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Just after 9.30am, raids began in several states<\/a> led by the Australian Border Force with assistance from the AFP and state law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

More than 100 service stations were simultaneously targeted across six jurisdictions, and involved the co-ordinated deployment of 250 law enforcement and regulatory officers from 15 agencies.<\/p>\n

Among the first stores raided on Tuesday morning was the Metro petrol station at Alexandria in Sydney\u2019s inner west.<\/p>\n

No employees have been arrested or are alleged to be involved in illegal activity, with officers seizing paperwork and devices to be examined by forensic accountants.<\/p>\n

A secret task force named Shorthand, was put together by the ABF after intelligence linked the stations to the illegal tobacco trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the number of transactions, it doesn\u2019t seem just a case of a few rogue individuals trying to make some money on the side,\u201d a source, close to the law enforcement investigation, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt suggests something that is organised, sophisticated and resilient that encompasses the entire illicit tobacco supply chain \u2013 from the potential importation of illicit tobacco, to its distribution to sites of sale, and to how funds are collected and distributed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, George Dib Jnr \u2013 the son of John Dib and nephew of George Dib \u2013 was arrested by authorities in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

It is understood his detention is not linked to the action carried out in Australia on Tuesday by the ABF and other agencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Adelaide petrol station has been raided by federal officers and temporarily shut down after an investigation into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[92794,92774,92815,92768,92771,24147,92788,92800,92813,92790,62418,92791,92767,45037,39061,68154,92806,92812,37290,395,92778,23377,92780,92805,92772,92779,37232,92763,92804,62261,23,43100,15463,46729,92801,92820,48271,92758,92784,92798,7297,6260,7519,92811,43556,92819,92817,92786,92764,92818,81391,92777,92781,43677,92769,92797,53674,36526,92789,92765,92803,596,25531,59215,92773,31458,2185,92787,22269,92762,92776,92795,92799,92802,92809,121,247,92793,57803,92816,54057,46738,92807,92796,37024,92810,92783,92808,53660,92785,92782,36847,39151,92770,92814,55259,37146,52108,92766,92775,69868,36985,92792],"class_list":["post-69504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-adelaide","tag-s-blair-athol-servo","tag-s-inner-west-no-employees","tag-s-largest-independent-petrol-chain","tag-s-largest-independent-petrol-station-an-employee","tag-s-metro-petroleum-outlet","tag-abf","tag-100-servos","tag-15-agencies-among","tag-250-law-enforcement","tag-2last-week","tag-9-30am","tag-a-28-day-closure","tag-a-few-rogue-individuals","tag-a-job","tag-a-month","tag-a-raid","tag-a-short-term-closure-order","tag-a-significant-probe","tag-a-source","tag-adelaide","tag-adelaide-servo","tag-alexandria","tag-an-adelaide-petrol-station","tag-an-adelaide-servo","tag-an-australian-border-force-task-force","tag-an-estimated-wealth","tag-an-investigation","tag-another-job","tag-any-wrongdoing-just","tag-assistance","tag-australia","tag-authorities","tag-blair-athol","tag-brothers","tag-federal-officers","tag-forensic-accountants-a-secret-task-force","tag-funds","tag-george-dib","tag-george-dib-jnr","tag-his-detention","tag-illegal-activity","tag-illegal-tobacco","tag-illicit-tobacco","tag-illicit-tobacco-bust","tag-intelligence","tag-its-distribution","tag-john-and-george-dib","tag-john-dib","tag-just-a-case","tag-lebanon-it","tag-messenger-subscription-box-version","tag-metro-petroleum","tag-metro-petroleum-servos","tag-midnight","tag-more-than-100-outlets","tag-more-than-300-sites","tag-more-than-40-years","tag-morning","tag-national-raid","tag-nearly-1bn-the-brothers","tag-nephew","tag-nsw","tag-officers","tag-other-agencies","tag-paperwork-and-devices","tag-place","tag-raids","tag-regulatory-officers","tag-sale","tag-several-states","tag-shorthand","tag-shorthand-the-co-ordinated-raids","tag-sites","tag-six-jurisdictions","tag-some-money","tag-south-australia","tag-sydney","tag-the-abf","tag-the-action","tag-the-afp-and-state-law-enforcement-agencies-more-than-100-service-stations","tag-the-australian-border-force","tag-the-business","tag-the-cigarettes","tag-the-co-ordinated-deployment","tag-the-country","tag-the-discount-fuel-giant","tag-the-entire-illicit-tobacco-supply-chain","tag-the-first-stores","tag-the-illegal-tobacco-trade","tag-the-law-enforcement-investigation","tag-the-metro-petrol-station","tag-the-nation","tag-the-number","tag-the-potential-importation","tag-the-prospect-rd-servo","tag-the-servo","tag-the-side","tag-the-son","tag-the-stations","tag-the-supply-and-distribution","tag-transactions","tag-tuesday","tag-victoria-and-queensland-part"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}