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ABC News
6 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
ATM supplier atm2go begins removes machines from stores linked to illicit tobacco trade
A second ATM supplier – whose machines were once used by a cannabis kingpin – has begun pulling out its devices from stores linked to the illicit tobacco trade. The move by Queensland-based atm2go follows an ABC investigation which revealed how ATM companies were fuelling predominantly cash sales of illegal cigarettes by placing their private machines in stores. Rival supplier Next Payments publicly acknowledged the problem late last month and began removing 40 machines it believed were linked to the illicit trade. Major payments processing company EFTEX, which industry sources said handled transactions for atm2go, has vowed to cease handling transactions for tobacco stores from September following media scrutiny. Atm2go refused to discuss the matter when contacted by the ABC. "No comment," one senior member of the company said this week, before hanging up. The ABC had found atm2go machines in a string of stores selling illicit cigarettes — with sales occurring even after some shops in Queensland had been suspended by health authorities for breaching tobacco laws. Court documents also showed atm2go had cut deals to install ATMs with a man charged and later convicted with proceeds of crime and tobacco offences. In another case in Darwin, a man jailed for massive cannabis dealing had atm2go machines that he told an underling to load with drug cash. The ABC this week revisited four south-east Queensland locations that had been selling illegal cigarettes. In the past two months, atm2go machines were found inside but the machines were gone this week from three shops. A sign outside one of the stores in Oxley, on Brisbane's southside, said: "The ATM has been removed. Please use the ATM located inside where Woolies is." People with knowledge of the machines said the removalists had come suddenly. The fourth store in inner Brisbane's West End had a sign plastered across the atm2go machine saying it was not working and implored customers to: "please bring cash next time as the ATM will be out for awhile!" Atm2go was once heavily focused on events and used a franchise system, but industry sources said COVID-19 and ensuing lockdowns had disrupted its model. The company had in recent years been crowing in social media posts about putting machines in stores selling tobacco. Federal Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's office has asked regulators to examine private ATMs.
ABC News
12-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
ATM suppliers atm2go and Next Payments in battle for tobacco crime figure's business, court filings reveal
When Iraqi-born businessman Hasheem Jamal Al Deleymi ramped up an illegal tobacco operation in Queensland, police weren't the only ones taking notice. Two major private automated teller machine companies, atm2go and Next Payments, also appeared to have clocked the contraband enterprise. The ATM suppliers went on to became entangled in a turf war to supply their machines to tobacco shops associated with Al Deleymi. Nine months after Macquarie Group-backed Next Payments supplied their machines, Al Deleymi was stopped in a silver Ford Ranger utility in NSW with $530,000 cash — leading to him facing a NSW Crime Commission investigation over alleged handling of proceeds of crime. The dealings have been uncovered by an ABC investigation into how private ATMs are fuelling the violent illegal tobacco trade and can be used by criminals to launder money. The machines, which rake in transaction fees, are being sited inside tobacco shops to enable cash-only transactions for illegal tobacco facilitating tax evasion. Shop operators can also do deals with suppliers to load the machines with their own cash — potentially laundering proceeds of crime. ATM suppliers and the shop owners can receive a commission on every transaction. The ABC has obtained court documents from a legal action sparked by the turf war between the ATM suppliers over Al Deleymi's business. The documents reveal the normally secret returns generated by ATMs in tobacco shops, including how in some cases such machines do triple the business of a normal ATM. Atm2go had entered into a deal to supply Al Deleymi with six machines in several south-east Queensland tobacco stores between February 2021 to March 2022, the documents allege. But by June 2022, the deal appeared to sour, with all six atm2go machines switched off and unbolted. Atm2go alleged Al Deleymi was then responsible for replacing their machines with eight ATMs from rival operation Next Payments. In response, atm2go launched legal action against Al Deleymi claiming a breach of a five-year agreement for their machines. Atm2go alleged it lost tens of thousands of dollars in business and faced costs for removing the machines — an amount totalling around $74,000. Al Deleymi is alleged to have ignored atm2go's demand to remove Next Payments machines and reinstall theirs. Do you know more about this story? Email or To prove how much revenue was lost, atm2go offered up details of how fee deals for private ATMs are structured. Atm2go stated it charged customers $2.50 for each cash withdrawal and that Al Deleymi would earn a cut of each transaction fee of up to $1.30. One machine at a Caboolture tobacco store recorded 165 transactions daily throughout May 2022, while a second racked up 155. Together, they reaped daily average fees of $408.79. This transaction rate dwarfs that of typical Australian ATMs, which record an average of only 38 cash withdrawals a day, according to Reserve Bank of Australia figures. This high transaction rate came despite the presence of other ATMs nearby. Al Deleymi did not file any defence in atm2go's lawsuit, and a default judgment was entered against him for almost $64,000. The documents allege atm2go and Next Payments cut deals with the stores linked to Al Deleymi after May 2021 in Queensland. At that time, he had been charged with offences in Queensland including conveying of tobacco products and dealing with property worth less than $100,000 suspected of being proceeds of crime. He was convicted in 2024 and received a two-year good behaviour bond. Following a 2022 raid on a Bundaberg tobacconist and vape store linked to him, Al Deleymi was also fined $4,000 for offences including unlawful supply of medicines and possession of a weapon. Efforts to contact him have been unsuccessful. Just four months after atm2go sued to recover money, Al Deleymi was stopped in in a silver Ford Ranger utility in New South Wales and was allegedly found with $530,000. The seizure triggered the NSW Crime Commission to freeze funds in bank accounts linked to other tobacco shops tied to Al Deleymi and he faced charges of dealing with the proceeds of crime. In June, Al Deleymi was found by a Sydney magistrate to have recklessly dealt with the proceeds of crime worth more than $100,000. He had pleaded not guilty. He is due to be sentenced later this year. Atm2go did not answer questions about the deals while Next Payments chief executive Tim Wildash declined to answer specific queries relating to Al Deleymi. Mr Wildash previously said his company cooperated with authorities and was assisting a "live investigation". He has rejected concerns about money laundering with his company machines but acknowledged issues involving the ATM industry and tobacco stores. "This issue is bigger than any of us could have imagined three weeks ago," Mr Wildash said. Al Deleymi, 29, was listed in 2023 court documents as living at a now derelict Morayfield property just north of Brisbane. The address is also listed as a contact point for 21-year-old Mostafa Al Deleymi who was supplied with Next Payments ATMs, despite facing charges relating to illegal tobacco possession. After he was caught with illegal tobacco in 2023 in Ingham, Mostafa Al Deleymi went on to establish a company called Replenishatm, which signed deals with Next Payments. When the ABC visited the 1.8 acre Morayfield property last month, the brick home was empty and derelict with a large skip bin left in the front yard. Piled up in the skip bin were empty cardboard boxes. Some were labelled with Chinese brands of cigarettes sold in tobacco shops.
ABC News
26-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Convicted drug dealer had same private ATMs as used in illegal tobacco shops
At the height of his epic Top End drug dealing enterprise, Peter "Hippy" Wellman James was juggling a virtual flood of cash. The muscular, tattooed former gardener was smuggling in truckloads of prime cannabis heads packed in drums and disguised as gravestones — estimated to bring in close to a million dollars a week. Evidence of his vast cash flow was confirmed by regular payments of up to $800,000 in notes that James had put in Cryovac bags to be shipped on a near weekly basis to his Adelaide based supplier known only as the "Russian" or "Milkman". When he was finally arrested in 2020 with over $100,000 in cash hidden in his home, police estimated the value of drugs he'd smuggled into the Northern Territory had topped $17 million. Dealing with the huge amounts of cash should have posed a headache for the Darwin resident and potentially put him on the radar of authorities. But the then 41-year-old — who has since been jailed for 12 years for supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis — had a legitimate excuse to move around with bags of bank notes all thanks to a legal business he ran: a fleet of private Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs). Despite having a drug conviction from 2012, James had been able to own and operate a business called atm2go Darwin using private ATMs associated with a Queensland-based business called atm2go. The machines provided not just a cover for cash possession, but offered an opportunity for money laundering, with evidence given in court that cash from the drug dealing was to be loaded into the ATMs. The 2022 Northern Territory case was uncovered by an ABC investigation into how a lack of regulations around private ATMs is enabling their widespread use by criminals, especially those in the billion-dollar violent illegal tobacco trade. The machines have been placed in multiple small tobacco shops where they facilitate cash only transactions for illegal products — enabling tax evasion and general scrutiny from regulators. As evidenced in the James case, the ATMs also created a risk of money laundering, where a convicted criminal was legally allowed to load the machines with his own cash. Customers can unwittingly withdraw that dirty cash from the ATM. When the cash is withdrawn, the ATM sends an electronic instruction that eventually results in the customer's bank account crediting the same amount to the bank account associated with the operator of the ATM. The money's original source does not come under the same level of scrutiny that occurs if criminals try depositing certain amounts of cash in various ways at a bank counter or official bank ATM. "The cash that started out as proceeds of crime, now appears as legitimate funds in the ATM owner's bank account,'' said financial crimes consultant Neil Browne. "No questions about the source of the funds have been asked." Among the private businesses supplying machines to tobacco shops is atm2go, which was associated with the ATMs used by James in the Northern Territory. Atm2go started in 2011 and offers machines for events and retail stores. Its operations have included a franchise model. Its website has promoted the business as selling, renting or placing ATMs in stores for free, taking a cut of the transactions. The business declined to respond to questions from the ABC about how atm2go machines were supplied and used by James despite his previous criminal conviction. The ABC has confirmed atm2go machines have been installed at numerous stores across the east coast of Queensland selling illegal tobacco. In some circumstances the machines continue to operate in the shops after they have faced regulatory action for supplying illegal tobacco. One example was just south of Brisbane, where the Marsden Gifts and Tobacco shop on Barklya Street had been promoting an atm2go machine on site before facing an interim closure order from authorities. In June, the ABC found the shop had re-opened and was selling illegal tobacco while featuring two atm2go machines on site. Among illegal tobacco products being sold at the business for "cash only" were $10 Hongtashan 20 packs of cigarettes, lacking required health warnings. In inner Brisbane's West End suburb, a few hundred metres from the local police station, the "A1 Convenience" shop sells illegal tobacco products for cash at discounted prices. The shop was temporarily closed by Queensland's Health Department for illicit tobacco supply earlier this year. At the time an atm2go machine was in use on the site. By June, the shop was back open with the same branded unit inside, still selling illegal tobacco, including packs of "Double Happiness" cigarettes for $10 cash, the ABC confirmed. The registered owner of the store declined to comment. Atm2go is still featuring an image of the machine in the West End shop on its official website promoting its "Retail ATM" installations. The business did not comment about why its machines were still in shops once shut down by authorities for tobacco infringements and whether they were concerned about the potential use of the ATMs for money laundering. Do you know more about this story? Email or or via encrypted app Signal. Atm2go has made little secret of its dealings with tobacco shops — even promoting on its social media pages the successful installation of ATMs in the businesses. "Tobacco shops around Australia are LOVING the benefits of having an ATM in their store,'' says one post on atm2go's official Instagram page. Other Instagram posts in 2021 revealed that atm2go promoted a machine in the Strathpine Tobacco and Gifts, just north of Brisbane. "Today's install at Strathpine Tobacco & Gifts — such a good spot for an ATM," the post read, with an image of the machine in the store. Business searches link the Strathpine shop to Bilal Jamal Al Dilami, who in 2023 reportedly faced charges relating to the seizure of 5,000 nicotine filled illegal vapes. The court was told that thousands of vapes were allegedly found in the Strathpine store. Mr Dilami pleaded guilty to the supply of medicines or hazardous poisons and was fined $4,000 when he appeared in court in 2023. Contacted about the atm2go case, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said his government would be taking action in relation to private ATMs. "I've asked the agencies to work further on this specific issue." AUSTRAC, the nation's money laundering watchdog, said it was aware of the case where Northern Territory drug dealer James was operating the ATMs. "By using the proceeds of crime to replenish private ATMs, money launderers can layer or attempt to disguise the illicit source of the cash,'' the spokesperson said. "The transfer of settlement funds into operator and owner accounts integrates the illicit cash into the financial system." The ABC has previously revealed how Next Payments, a Victorian-based company backed by prestigious investment house Macquarie Group, had supplied ATMs to illegal tobacco sellers. Next Payments has told the ABC it was cooperating with authorities in relation to a "live investigation" relating to illegal tobacco. The company's CEO Tim Wildash has rejected allegations the machines posed a money laundering risk, arguing anomalies would be noticed quickly in the bank accounts being used. The ABC also asked atm2go if it was concerned about how their machines might be helping to fuel what is an illegal and violent business. It declined to comment. Last month, two men received burns and were hospitalised when the tobacco shop they were minding was allegedly set on fire at Browns Plains south of Brisbane. As police picked through the smoking wreckage of the shop in the aftermath, a slightly scorched but still legible sign associated with the business was very visible on the pavement in front. The sign featured an arrow pointing towards the shop and the words atm2go.
