Two people have been arrested after investigations into a family-based tobacco smuggling syndicate in Auckland.

Customs Investigations manager Bruce Berry said officers intercepted 79.6kg of tobacco. Photo: 123RF

Customs started looking into the case earlier this year and found that the family was manipulating travellers to illegally bring tobacco into New Zealand from the Cook Islands.

Customs Investigations manager Bruce Berry said officers intercepted 79.6kg of tobacco and $113,422 in evaded taxes.

"We saw a spike in interceptions of... people identified travelling with tobacco about 18 months ago," he said.

Mr Berry said a 34-year-old man was arrested at Auckland Airport on Tuesday after returning from Rarotonga.

His mother, who is 52 years old, was arrested this morning after executed search warrants.

The pair are believed to be linked to organised crime in Auckland.

"This was a systemic fraud where they were utilising friends and family travelling from Rarotonga," said Mr Berry.

"Criminals or opportunists may assume Customs isn't concerned about travellers who try to smuggle undeclared tobacco, but that's not true - we have a team that specifically targets the organisers of cross-border revenue fraud."

Mr Berry said New Zealand Customs worked closely with the Cook Islands Customs Service and the Cook Islands Financial Intelligence Unit in this case.

He said further arrests were likely.

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Two arrests after probe into tobacco smuggling from Cook Islands - RNZ