The 24-year-old is a former vape store employee and claims she was told to lie to health inspectors and police.
A former vape store employee has sounded the alarm on the illegal under-the-counter vape sales she claims are being carried out across Perth.
She toldNine News Perth nicotine vapes were just one of a range of outlawed products on offer at the stores.
Photos show hundreds of illegal disposable vapes stacked out of sight in the back of a Perth vape shop,a covert supply chain meaning the nicotine products are outlawed but easily available.
“When the department of health comes in the front staff put a blanket over the vape stock in the pantry,” the woman,who could not be identified,said.
The woman toldNine News Perth she was told to lie to police in a culture of cover-ups.
“I was under the impression that it was all going to be OK and it clearly wasn’t,” she said.
The disposable vapes were just the tip of the iceberg. The store the woman worked at also offered imported cigarettes and home-grown tobacco,THC pens,“nangs” and illegal amyl nitrite inhalants.
Amyl nitrate,also known as “poppers”,are inhaled for a high that can affect a person’s blood flow.
The woman claims the store would keep a handwritten list under the till for customers to spell out the store’s illegal offerings.
“I was desperate for money,I’m a single mum,I don’t get child support from my ex partner,I took the only job I could get,” the woman said.
The woman continued her work uninterrupted despite a health department crackdown which saw 1200 shops inspected – 50 of which were given formal warnings – and 27,000 illegal products seized.
“We were also advised that should anyone come into the store looking to seize anything we should let them take it because the boss would replace it the next day,” the woman said.
Under Australian law,nicotine vapes can only be sold from a pharmacy with a prescription.
Companies that ignore that face a fine of up to $225,000.
Nine News Perth