Illegal tobacco is no longer a back-alley trade — it’s a billion-dollar criminal economy fuelling arson, extortion, murders and a full-blown underworld war across Australia. In this explosive episode of Real Crime, Adam Shand uncovers how half of all tobacco consumed in Australia has slipped into the shadows, and why the government’s own excise regime is driving the demand.

Adam speaks first with freight-forwarding director Kelly Crossley, who is on the frontline of the smuggling pipeline. She reveals how syndicates exploit the container trade, steal legitimate ABNs, forge identities and slip tonnes of illicit cigarettes through overstretched border systems — sometimes within sight of police stations.

Then Adam sits down with former AFP officer Rowan Pike, who established Australia’s first illegal tobacco strike team. For a decade, Pike warned that sky-high excise, lax policy, and a lack of coordinated enforcement would create exactly the chaos we’re seeing now. Pike breaks down how the black market exploded, why seizures barely make a dent and why Australia is now facing a criminal landscape more profitable than the drug trade.

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In this powerful and deeply confronting episode, Adam Shand speaks with survivor and advocate Marita Murphy, who has spent more than 50 years trying to be heard. At just seven years old, Marita was brutally assaulted by two teenage boys—a crime her family discouraged her from reporting and one that would shape every part of her life.

Marita opens up about the trauma she carried into adulthood, the toll on her family, the failures of the justice system, and her relentless pursuit of truth. She also shares how she tracked down her perpetrator herself, why she created her award-winning documentary You Be The Judge, and what keeps her fighting not only for her own case, but for victims everywhere.

Watch You Be The Judge here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh1ODu2JdSA

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In this episode of Real Crime, Adam Shand speaks with former Victoria Police officer and intelligence specialist David Bartlett, the founder of the Safer Places Network—an ambitious new system aiming to transform how CCTV is used in Australia.

From the Jill Meagher investigation to missing persons, aggravated burglaries and retail crime, Adam and David break down how one camera can make or break a case—and why it still takes police up to 85 hours to obtain critical footage. David reveals the technological gap between law enforcement and the private sector, the privacy debates that stall progress and the surprising willingness of everyday Australians to voluntarily join a nationwide camera network.

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In this episode of Real Crime with Adam Shand, we revisit one of the most violent eras in Victoria’s history through the eyes of former detective and firearms instructor Alex Christich. From the Mad Max manhunt to the Russell Street bombing and the Wall Street police murders, Christich recounts the days when Victoria Police faced armed robbers, escapees and killers who weren’t afraid to shoot it out with the cops. Together, Adam and Alex explore how policing has changed—from the raw, us-versus-them mentality of the 1980s to today’s bureaucratic and politically constrained force—and what’s been lost along the way.

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In this episode, investigative journalist Adam Shand revisits the extraordinary criminal career of Bertram Douglas “Bertie” Kidd — safe-breaker, armed robber, race fixer and serial corruptor of police who may also have been a killer.

After attending Kidd’s funeral, Adam sits down with former New South Wales detective Phil Short, one of the officers who finally brought the notorious underworld figure down. Together, they trace the investigation that ended Kidd’s decades-long run — from corrupt cops and missing witnesses in the 1970s to the chaotic 1997 Brisbane factory robbery that sealed his fate.

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In this episode, Adam Shand speaks with retired Detective Senior Sergeant Peter Kos, one of the original investigators behind Operation Afghan — a daring undercover sting targeting Italian organised crime in Griffith during the 1990s. Peter lifts the lid on the truth behind the famous infiltration of the Griffith Mafia.

From the early days of the drug squad and the rise of Antonio Romeo to undercover art dealers, fake identities and multimillion-dollar stings that pushed the limits of the law, Peter Kos reveals how the operation unfolded.

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In this episode, Adam Shand speaks with retired detective Ray Lambie, who joined the NSW Armed Robbery Squad at the height of the so-called “golden era.” Lambie shares stories from the front line — high-stakes takedowns, corrupt cops, close calls and the adrenaline rush of chasing Australia’s most dangerous men. Together, they explore how policing changed, why the banks resisted reform and how the myth of the Aussie outlaw continues to shape our view of crime.

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In 1969, 20-year-old Lucille Butterworth vanished from a bus stop near Hobart, Tasmania. For decades, her disappearance remained one of Australia’s most haunting cold cases. In this episode, Adam Shand speaks with former detective constable Cary Mark Millhouse, who helped reopen the investigation and uncover the truth buried in old police files and forgotten confessions.

Through meticulous detective work, Millhouse and his colleagues linked Lucille’s disappearance to convicted killer Jeffrey Charles Hunt — a man who confessed to the crime multiple times, yet never faced trial. Together, Adam and Cary revisit the evidence, the failures of early police work and the heartbreak of a family still waiting for justice.

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