A father and son have avoided jail for selling illegally imported opium and tobacco out of an Indian grocery and takeaway store in Adelaide.
Australian Border Force (ABF) investigators arrested the pair after conducting a search warrant at the store in Plympton in January 2024 and seeing the son sell illicit products to customers on CCTV, and searching a storage locker in Reynella rented by the father.
The duo were caught with pellets of opium and boxes of a product called Kamini Vidravana Rasa – a banned opium-containing herbal medicine known to be used by taxi and rideshare drivers from the Indian subcontinent to stay awake for long periods and as a sexual stimulant.
The ABF revealed on Friday the father and son were given three and six month prison sentences but were released immediately on recognisance orders after being convicted for drug possession and importation charges.
They were also fined $3,000 and $6,000 respectively for possession of illegally imported tobacco.
During the investigation ABF officers found 2.2kg of opium (paste and pellets), 29kg of illicit tobacco, and 2,080 illicit cigarettes hidden throughout the store, another 432g of opium at the family home in Trotts Park, and 3.5kg of opium (paste and pellets) and 20kg of illicit tobacco in the storage locker.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration banned Kamini in 2016 and in 2023 released an opioid warning for Kamini products, saying they contained dangerous and prescription-only ingredients, as well as mercury.
“Kamini tablets pose a serious risk to your health and should not be taken. This ayurvedic medicine is sold as an aphrodisiac and labelled as a ‘powerful stimulant useful in weakness and lack of vigour and vitality’. However, use of these substances can result in dependence, accidental overdoses, hospitalisation, or death,” the TGA said.
In 2022 a Brisbane study identified 12 Kamini addicts among patients at public opioid treatment centres in south-east Queensland. 11 were Indian men, and the only non-Indian was the spouse of one of the men.
Some worked in the rideshare industry, and study co-author Dr Jeremy Hayllar from the Alcohol and Drug Service in North Brisbane, told Nine News most Kamini addicts he had encountered did not know the product contained opioids, only that it helped relieve pain and stress and helped them work longer.
The study found that Kamini use was “fairly widespread” in Australian cities especially in the Indian community, and was “readily available” under the counter at Asian grocery stores.
“We know there’s lots of clandestine stuff that goes on,” Dr Hayllar said.
“Because it’s an under the counter activity … it’s hard to determine how common it is.”
Header image: Left, one of the men being arrested. Right, seized opium products (ABF).
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