Study backs organised crime links to counterfeit medicines
Pills on a mapA study of counterfeits of a single medicine brand has found similarities that suggest one organised, criminal organisation is likely behind the trade. That is the conclusion drawn by scientists from pharma company Roche and the Institute of Forensic Science in Switzerland, who systematically profiled samples of the unnamed capsule product taken from 33 separate seizures around the world between 2004 and 2013.
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Rs10K Fine on Firm for Fake Fuel Saver
CHENNAI: A Coimbatore-based company that promoted the spurious product, ‘Mile Man’, claiming to increase vehicle mileage, was penalised by a District Consumer Forum following a complaint from a consumer in the metro.Lured by television promotions which claimed ‘Mile Man’ to be an ‘innovative’ product that would reduce fuel consumption of two-wheelers by up to 50 per cent, C Senthil Lakshmi, of Anna Nagar bought it for `3,300 and fixed it on her two-wheeler.
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China seizes 210,000 tonnes of smuggled rice
Chinese customs seized more than 210,000 tonnes of smuggled rice in 2014, worth 1.26 billion yuan (205 million U.S. dollars), an official said Saturday.
Zhu Feng, deputy head of the anti-smuggling bureau of the General Administration of Customs (GAC), said the GAC cracked 467 cases concerning rice last year in a special campaign against the smuggling of agricultural products.
The campaign was dubbed “Green Wind”, and mainly targeting grains, frozen meat products, sugar, cotton and cooking oil.
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Cigarette smuggling is red hot in Illinois, and taxes are to blame
Illinois’ cigarette-smuggling rank jumped the most out of any state studied in a new report issued by the MackinacCenter for Public Policy.Illinois’ smuggling rank among 47 states leapt to 14th worst in 2013, up from 30th worst in 2012 – a move of 16 places in the wrong direction. The study authors attributed this “sizeable increase” to recent excise-tax hikes.
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‘Price to blame’ as seizures of illegal cigarettes soar
Customs report major rise in seizures of contraband tobacco
Customs officers have reported major increases in illegal tobacco seizures after confiscating 53m contraband cigarettes and 9,836kg of roll-your-own tobacco worth nearly €30m last year.
The number of cigarettes seized was considerably up on the 40.8m confiscated in 2013. There was also a notable increase in roll-your-own tobacco seizures, which accounted for 4,203kg in 2013.
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Fake organic brands thrive under FSSAI
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been issued a legal notice by the Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) for issuing the ‘organic’ certificate and logo to companies caught cheating consumers. The federation, in its notice on January 3 , has blamed the food authority for letting “fake, wrongly labelled and misbranded organic products” deceive millions of consumers in India.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/fake-organic-brands-thrive-under-fssai/1/413520.html
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Fake organic brands thrive under FSSAI
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been issued a legal notice by the Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) for issuing the ‘organic’ certificate and logo to companies caught cheating consumers. The federation, in its notice on January 3 , has blamed the food authority for letting “fake, wrongly labelled and misbranded organic products” deceive millions of consumers in India.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/fake-organic-brands-thrive-under-fssai/1/413520.html
Lear MoreLargest Underground Cigarette Factory Dismantled in Spain
SEVILLE, Spain – Spanish security forces on Wednesday dismantled the largest underground cigarette factory in the country in an operation in which 10 people were arrested.The illegal factory, located in the city of Seville, had a production capacity of 65,000 cigarette packs per day.
Police sources explained that authorities confiscated 30 tons of tobacco, in addition to 64,500 cigarette packs ready for sale, following investigations that started last June.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2369458&CategoryId=12396
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Rosselkhoznadzor: Belarus continues smuggling products
Belarus continues bringing sanctioned goods into Russia. Charter97.org learnt it from Russia’s agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor. “Despite statements by the Belarusian party on the measures taken, the import of seven lots of sanctioned products from Belarus with a total weight of more than 93 tonnes has been banned this year because the products did not meet the veterinary and sanitary requirements of the Customs Union and Russia,” the agency says.
http://charter97.org/en/news/2015/1/16/135471/
Lear MoreAnti-counterfeiting group warns of consumer, economic dangers
Two weeks before the start of Super Bowl XLIX, law-enforcement officials were trying to get the word out on the harmful impact counterfeiting can have on individuals and the local economy.
Representatives from Phoenix and Glendale police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had a media briefing on Friday to inform the public about counterfeit scams and dangers, as well as display an array of recently confiscated counterfeit products.
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