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)

Kawther 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.

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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 Decembe