Police Seize Bootlegged Cigarettes Worth Tl 6 Million
Turkish security forces have seized 62.000 cartons of bootlegged cigarettes worth about TL 6 million ($2.61 million) in an operation against smugglers in southern Turkey’s Gaziantep.
The cigarettes, which were declared as exports to Iraq from another country, were loaded on a truck from a customs warehouse in Mersin in southern Turkey. They were destined for an airport shop in Irbil, Iraq. Customs officials installed a vehicle-tracking device on the truck as a precaution against smuggling. But the truck’s driver removed the device on the way.
http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2014/12/15/police-seize-bootlegged-cigarettes-worth-tl-6-million
Lear MoreMaplewood attorney pleads guilty to smuggling contraband
A Maplewood attorney who worked for nearly 20 years as an assistant prosecutor for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has admitted he participated in a scheme to smuggle contraband, including marijuana and tobacco, to inmates in the Essex County Jail, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced. Brian Kapalin, 67, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to smuggle contraband into a federal detention facility before U.S. District Judge Mary Cooper on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Kapalin faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. He will be sentenced March 18.
Lear MoreCustoms agents foil smuggling of 152,000 cigarette cartons
The Jordan Customs Department (JCD) on Sunday said its personnel thwarted an attempt to smuggle around 152,000 cartons of different brands of cigarettes into the country.The owner of three containers, which arrived at Aqaba Port from China, claimed that the contents included medical beds, a senior JCD official said.“Our agents became suspicious of the containers’ contents and decided to conduct a thorough search,” the JCD official told The Jordan Times.
The search yielded 3,040 boxes that contained the smuggled cartons of cigarettes, according to a JCD statement.
Lear More13 arrests in Hong Kong cigarette smuggling crackdown
Customs officials seized about 2.1 million illicit cigarettes and arrested 13 people in the latest raid on cross-border tobacco smugglers.The seizures, valued at about HK$5.6 million, followed a two-week operation targeting vehicles crossing the border from the mainland. Two cars were seized and five suspected tobacco storage pointswere smashed.The tobacco involved would have attracted duties of HK$4.1 million, customs said.Illicit cigarettes have grown in popularity in recent years as taxes have risen. One British study said as many as a third of cigarettes smoked in Hong Kong in 2012 were illegal, although the claim has been disputed by anti-smoking campaigners.
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HONEYWELL highlights dangers of counterfeit refrigerants in Saudi ARABIA as 90% of residents believe non-brand products are in circulation
A new survey released today by Honeywell (NYSE: HON) found that occupants of Saudi Arabia are concerned about potentially dangerous counterfeit refrigerants, which are increasingly found in the Middle East. Counterfeit refrigerants are a dangerous, persistent problem around the world. After several containers carrying counterfeit refrigerants exploded in 2012, the United Nations Environment Programme said that counterfeit refrigerants “appear to be a global issue of concern and a wider range of stakeholders are possibly at risk.”
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Steel industry told to boost quality
Insiders and experts have said the sheet steel industry needs to improve quality and bring down prices to combat fakes, which have become pervasive.Le The Bao, chairman of the Viet Nam Association for Anti-counterfeiting and Trademark Protection (VATAP), told Viet Nam News that counterfeits were a hot issue in the country, affecting every industry, especially makers of sheet steel.”Developing production” would help improve product quality and cut down prices, enabling the industry to take on counterfeits, something that “has been stressed by the Government,” he said
http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/Economy/2014/12/111862/
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Rikers Correction Officer Convicted Of Smuggling Pot, Other Items
A Rikers Island correction officer was convicted Friday of smuggling drugs and other items into the jail. As WCBS 880’s Irene Cornell reported, U.S. Attorney PreetBharara called the conviction of correction Officer Austin Romain another step toward rooting out the bad actors at Rikers Island, and reforming the troubled institution.
Romain was charged last year along with co-defendant Officer Khalif Phillips of smuggling marijuana, tobacco and scalpels into maximum security facilities and selling them to inmates.
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Customs dept to crackdown on illegal cigarettes
The Customs Department will launch an “Ops PACAK” next year to go aggressive against the smuggling in of contraband cigarettes. The launch also comes in the wake of the department having seized 20.63 million illegal cigarette sticks with a tax value of RM10.33million in an anti-smuggling operations in 2013. Customs Department Deputy Director General (Enforcement and Compliance) Datuk MatrangSuhaili said this was the highest amount of such seized contraband in the country. He said smuggled cigarettes deprived the country of RM1.9billion in tax revenue and urged public cooperation to put a stop to such activities.
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1265201
Lear MoreConsumers warned over festive counterfeit goods
GWYNEDD Trading Standards are warning consumers about the implications of buying counterfeit goods this Christmas.
The current economic climate may make cheap deals even more tempting, but they have advised that consumers should be aware of the wider implications and the risks to their own safety, they said, adding that counterfeiting and piracy of trademarked and copyrighted products and services also cause considerable damage to legitimate businesses.
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Brady Brand Protection Announces Partnership with Element Case
The solution features complex, securely designed labels that can be scanned for authenticity by any smart phone equipped with a publicly available barcode-reading app. External labels on product packaging are matched with internal labels inside the product’s frame, providing instant digital authentication. Brady integrated HP’s Global Product Authentication Service (GPAS) into the solution, allowing Element Case customers and supply chain partners to instantly validate if a product is genuine.
Responding to Counterfeiting
Element Case is the premier boutique manufacturer of luxury accessories for smart phones and tablets. As an iconic pop culture brand, the company has encountered unprecedented levels of counterfeiting from international markets. In order to eliminate these counterfeits and provide its discerning customers full protection against copycat products, the company has tapped into Brady’s latest product authentication technologies.
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