Big tobacco has helped prop up police and Border Force in the fight against black market cigarettes, a partnership that could breach a major international agreement.

Key points: ABC reveals big tobacco companies involved in providing resources and support to law enforcement

ABC reveals big tobacco companies involved in providing resources and support to law enforcement The AFP and NSW Police denied the allegations

The AFP and NSW Police denied the allegations Four days after assault on a tobacco executive, the Government announced funding for a Tobacco Strike Team

The brutal bashing of a tobacco executive last year led an ABC investigation to follow a murky trail of covert meetings and intelligence operations.

What it uncovered was big tobacco providing law enforcement with high-level intelligence, identifying targets, helping plan operations and tactics, and paying for surveillance technology.

New South Wales Police are explicitly banned from accepting any support from the tobacco industry.

And it is likely the partnership breaches a legally binding World Health Organisation (WHO) agreement limiting tobacco companies' involvement with law enforcement.

The companies have argued they are being good corporate citizens because illicit tobacco funds terrorism and organised crime but anti-smoking advocates said the industry was just trying to "infiltrate government".

"The tobacco industry's motives are really clear. It's nothing to do with public health, it's all about protecting their profits," Cancer Council Australia's Kylie Lindorff said.

Let's step it out.

Anti-smoking advocates map out the industry's motivation in the fight against black market tobacco. ( ABC News )

The unlikely alliance between the tobacco giants and law enforcement was revealed by a tobacco industry insider and further mapped out in heavily redacted documents released to the ABC under a freedom of information request.

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Large tracts of text have been blacked out because of criminal investigations and secrecy provisions.

Given the near fatal consequences it is surprising the documents were released at all.

June 2016: The brutal reprisal

When a late storm swept through Sydney on Saturday, June 4, 2016, one tobacco company executive was cleaning up the debris in his front yard.

The executive asked us not to identify him, fearing further reprisals and the wrath of his own industry.

The executive recalled a man calling his name from the front gate and saying: "We know you're working with customs and it's causing us a lot of trouble."

"We want to make you a deal — you can make some big money out of this too."

That the executive survived to recount this story is exceptional.

Two, maybe three, more men emerged from the shadows and tried to wrestle the executive into their car.

A 12-gauge shotgun was pressed into his temple so hard it left its stamp for doctors to examine.

The executive knew if he did not fight back, he would not leave their car alive.

He stumbled back into his garden, covered in blood from a stab wound to the chest.

His clothes were ripped and his body bruised from the punches and kicks that had rained down on him, and a rope was still tangled around his neck.

"My ears were ringing — all I could hear was my heartbeat after being choked. I was just trying to stay conscious preparing for round two," he said.

But the men had fled and the executive stumbled back to the front door calling for his family to fetch help.

He realised it was a clear message from organised crime to the tobacco giants: stop cooperating with the cops.

The ABC has traced the cooperation back to 2013.

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Cigarette plain packaging laws had just come into force and, amid a tense political climate, the tobacco executive had set out to forge a new relationship with law enforcement.

Early one morning, a security contractor swept through the conference room at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney, searching for listening devices.

The tobacco executive had invited the three biggest players — British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Philip Morris — to the Tobacco Crime Forum to share "highly confidential" information under the Chatham House rule.

The companies would reveal their secret intelligence on the crime syndicates they believed were ripping them off.

The tobacco giants wanted Border Force, the Australian Crime Intelligence Commission (ACIC, formerly the Australian Crime Commission), the Australian Federal Police (AFP), NSW Police and the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to crack down on illicit tobacco and they were prepared to help them do it.

Operations, targets and tactics over breakfast

As the years progressed, the cooperation between the tobacco companies and crime fighting agencies deepened.

Official meetings were held in Melbourne and Sydney, documented in the files released to the ABC.

But there was no documentation of the meetings where the real business was discussed.

That was at breakfast meetings between the tobacco executive and law enforcement agents at cafes around Sydney.

The tobacco executive organised for his company to pay for surveillance technology to "permanently loan" to a cross-agency operation.

Then they would discuss operational targets, tactics and methodology and the executive would handover intelligence.

"We had a contractor in charge of intelligence gathering," he said, cautiously.

The contractor would put suspect shops under surveillance and use the intelligence to put legal pressure on the shopkeepers to flip.

The contractor wanted to know who was importing and supplying them with the black market product.

It is not hard to imagine the information small business operators would reveal under the threat of costly legal action with a multi-national company.

But the executive insisted: "The rules of engagement were pure, above board and legal."

'Outcomes expected — detailed plan for operation'

The AFP and NSW Police said they were "not aware" of having accepted any surveillance equipment and ACIC flatly denied it.

"The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has never accepted surveillance technology provided by a tobacco company," they said in a statement.

Border Force declined to answer the question, but, like the AFP and NSW Police, said it had never shared "operational" information with tobacco companies.

Email obtained by the ABC calling for a "critical Operational Planning Meeting". ( Supplied )

Documents obtained by the ABC suggest otherwise.

On April 9, 2015, the security consultant swept another room for listening devices, this time at a club in the affluent eastern Sydney suburb of Point Piper, according to the documents released.

British American Tobacco wanted to ensure the security was tight so information could be discussed without risk of it leaking to the criminal organisations.

It had called a "critical Operational Planning Meeting" to coordinate with the AFP, "overseas parties", ACIC, Customs and ATO staff, according to a chain of emails.

"Outcomes expected — detailed plan for operation," one read.

Just months later, a major operation led by the Polaris Joint Waterfront Taskforce claimed to disrupt an entire organised crime syndicate.

More than a dozen people were arrested in raids across Sydney, including allegedly corrupt waterfront officials.

Police seized more than $5 million worth of illegal tobacco.

The independence of law enforcement

Liberal senator Eric Abetz is a vocal advocate for busting the black market trade.

"One is the health issue, two is the cost in revenue that's being denied to the Australian tax payer and thirdly and most importantly is the issue of organised crime," he said.

"The black market only operates because it can sell tobacco cheaper than the tobacco companies."

But he has expressed reservations about the level of cooperation.

"Law enforcement if at all possible should be completely independent," Senator Abetz said.

"I personally would prefer the law enforcement agencies to take this matter seriously enough that they don't have to rely on technology and other support from the tobacco companies."

A win: Tobacco strike team

Four days after the brutal assault on the executive who led the fight against black market tobacco, the Federal Government announced funding for the Border Force Tobacco Strike Team.

It said the $7.7 million would fund its operations through until mid-2018.

The industry claimed it as a win, even though its campaign was bloody.

"I would do it all again — I'm very proud," the tobacco executive said.

"It obviously caused a lot of grief to the crooks over the years."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 8 minutes 2 seconds 8 m In December 2016 the ABC's 7.30 Program spoke with Border Force officials.

He said law enforcement had realised the magnitude of the crime and was now throwing resources at it.

"It would have evolved that way eventually, perhaps I brought it forward a few years," the executive said.

"We can never as an industry try to become heroes, the best we can do is stay in the shadows and support the police."

But Cancer Council Australia said that was not a role for the industry.

"Law enforcement agencies are right to go after illicit tobacco use, but that should not mean they're working closely with the tobacco industry," Ms Lindorff said.

"There's a fundamental and irreconcilable difference between the tobacco industry's interests and the interests of public health."

"The World Health Organisation treaty says governments and law enforcement need to limit interaction with the tobacco industry to only what is strictly necessary and to make sure it's all transparent."

"Clearly this is well beyond the scope of interaction that is strictly necessary."

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The industry responds

British American Tobacco Australia

"BATA does not plan law enforcement operations. If we have information highlighting criminal activity, we share it," it said in a statement. "As we have seen over the past two weeks, law enforcement agencies have had some success with the tobacco black market. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We are being forced to compete with criminals and they must be stopped. "It's absurd, Utopia-esque, to suggest that working alongside law enforcement agencies to prevent criminal activity is improper. "There is nothing in WHO treaties which prohibits tobacco companies interacting with government agencies."

Imperial Tobacco

"We do provide illicit tobacco intelligence to various law enforcement agencies… it is entirely legitimate to provide intelligence to law enforcement agencies," it said in a statement. "If we aren't able to assist, the entirety of the problem falls upon the Government — and the cost upon the taxpayer. "KPMG estimates that illicit tobacco in Australia accounts for 13.9 per cent of consumption. It is also costing the Government $1.61 billion is lost revenue annually. The money is going straight into the pockets of well organised criminals who certainly don't have the best interests of Australians driving them."

Philip Morris International