Hundreds of thousands of illegal vapes have been intercepted by border officials in South Australia, a month after new laws came in banning the devices.
The federal government has vowed to stamp out the increasingly popular products, with concern young Australians are becoming dependent.
Australian Border Force Assistant Commissioner Chris Waters said the 250,000 seized vapes had an estimated street value of $4.5 million.
Under legislation introduced on January 1, it became illegal to import disposable vapes.
While charges are yet to be laid over the recent haul, investigations to find those responsible are in motion.
An alarming 13 tonnes were seized in the past seven days alone.
"Penalties could include anywhere from a fine to imprisonment depending on the nature and the severity of the offence," Waters told 9News.
Vaping has become the number one behavioural issue in schools, with the federal Health Minister Mark Butler claiming some senior students were so addicted they couldn't get through recent exams without nicotine patches.
"This a product being marketed directly to children, teenagers and very young adults with one objective in mind and that is to recruit a new generation to nicotine addiction," he said.
Butler said he also planned to introduce new laws to parliament that would make it illegal to sell or supply vapes.
From March 1, it will only be possible to import vapes with a permit from the Office of Drug Control and those vapes will need to meet strict standards, including on packaging and flavouring.