'Ice pipes' sold illegally from under the counter at tobacco shops and service stations for $20 - but vendors claim they 'don't know what customers use them for'

• e-mail

Australia's ice epidemic could be being made worse by the illegal sale of 'ice pipes' in tobacco stores and service stations across the country.

A number of stores in Sydney were caught out secretly selling the paraphernalia, as part of a Channel Seven investigation. 

As part of the report, a journalist was filmed purchasing a pipe for $20 from a store in Chinatown, Sydney. He was also able to buy another one by knowing what questions to ask in Darlinghurst. In both instances, the pipes were not on display and the seller had to get them either from under the counter or from a storeroom.

Scroll down for video 

A number of stores in Sydney were caught out secretly selling the paraphernalia, as part of a Channel Seven investigation

Moments later, the journalist returned to the stores and confronted the people who sold him the goods.

The seller in Chinatown said he didn't 'know the customer uses this for what', while the Darlinghurst worker refused to speak to the journalist who had illegally bought the pipe moments earlier.

New South Wales Justice and Police Minister Troy Grant said people selling the glass pipes were 'thumbing their nose' at drug laws.

'Selling these pipes is no different or better than supplying the drug itself,' Mr Grant said, according to Seven.

'Ice pipes' can allegedly be purchased for as little as $20 in stores across Sydney

The journalist was able to compare and purchase the pipes by knowing the right questions to ask at a number of stores in Sydney

'Wherever we can find this practice occurring, we will throw the book at them.'

People caught selling the products can face heavy fines and a maximum of two years in prison, acording to the NSW Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act.

'A person who sells an ice pipe is guilty of an office,' the act states. 

The new investigation comes after NSW Police seized more than 500 pipes, bongs and other drug-related products from a service station in western Sydney, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The journalist was also able to purchase a pipe at a second store in Sydney

Australia's ice epidemic could be being made worse by the illegal sale of 'ice pipes' in tobacco stores and service stations across the country

When the journalist returned and confronted one of the sellers, the man claimed to not know what the pipes were used for

'I don't know the customer uses this for what,' the man who sold the journalist the pipe said