IMFL smugglers make a quick buck
There has been an increase in smuggling in of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) from Mahe after the State government decided to close down bars and observe Sunday as “dry day.” Since the check-posts between Mahe and Kozhikode mainly screen goods movement, small players in the trade, who mainly make use of private vehicles, manage to cart away the product for illegal trade. The smugglers thrive as there is great demand from buyers who are ready to pay the asked sum. The youth too have started falling prey to this quick means of profit. Prohibitionists point out that hundreds of vehicles shuttle between Kannur and Kozhikode via Mahe. The police and Excise Department find it difficult to screen all the vehicles.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kozhikode/imfl-smugglers-make-a-quick-buck/article6577888.ece
Lear MoreVietnam police impound over 100 tons of smuggled products in major crackdown
More than 100 tons of contraband and thousands of smuggled children’s toys and motorbike parts were seized, but the ringleaders behind the smuggling rackets escaped as police launched a large-scale anti-smuggling crackdown in a border city of the northern province of QuangNinh early this month. Officers of C46, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security’s economic police unit, raided a number of areas where the illicit products were gathered in Mong Cai City, which borders China’s Dongxing City, and confiscated more than 100 tons of smuggled clothes, fabrics, and electronic products on November 2.
Lear MoreThis Is What Half A Million Smuggled Cigarettes Look Like
A Staten Island man’s lucrative cigarette-smuggling business went up in smoke this week, authorities announced Friday, after a seven-month investigation revealed he was in possession of over half a million untaxed cigarettes. Michael Zekry, 67, was pulled over by police in the New Springville section of Staten Island early Wednesday morning while driving a white van, the Richmond County’s District Attorney’s Office said. A search of the vehicle allegedly uncovered over 2,000 cartons of cigarettes, all with stamps indicating that they were from Virginia. After obtaining a search warrant, officers found another 550 cartons of Virginia-stamped cigarettes inside Zekry’s apartment, along with $40,000 in cash and a cash-counting machine, authorities said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/07/cigarette-smuggling-michael-zekry_n_6122880.html
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It’s Really Easy to Smuggle Drugs IntoRikers Island Prison, Investigation Finds
It’s been a bad public relations year for the violence- and corruption-plagued. RikersIsland Correctional Facility in New York City. Reports of prison guards savagely bludgeoning inmates to death—and more often than not getting off scot-free. Hundreds of inmates suffering serious injury from guard brutality. A culture of fear and intimidation to suppress any repercussions for officers and their superiors.And all this at a hefty price for taxpayers.
http://reason.com/blog/2014/11/07/its-really-easy-to-smuggle-drugs-into-ri
Lear MoreNigeria: Smuggling and Textile Industry Development
Lagos — Stakeholders in the textile industry are calling on the government to find a lasting solution to the issue of smuggling of textile materials into the country. The stakeholders said the economy is losing so much in terms of revenue in taxes to the federal government as a result of the smuggling activities, noting that the 100b textile revival intervention fund introduced by the federal government might not be able to achieve much if the spate of smuggling of textile materials into the country is not curbed.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201411071194.html
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Part V: Dalli’s big tobacco theory
BRUSSELS – John Dalli claims that his tough stand against tobacco as EU health commissioner led the industry to pull levers inside the European Commission to get him ousted from office. He had been given the job of reforming the 2001 tobacco products directive (TPD), a vital part of the EU’s strategy to reduce tobacco consumption in Europe. Dalli’s new draft would step up rules on smokeless tobacco, ingredients, labelling, cross-border sales, and illicit trade – making it more difficult for the industry to ply its trade in Europe.
http://euobserver.com/smoke-and-mirrors/126125
Lear MoreFull scale of Plymouth’s illegal tobacco trade revealed after £12,000 seizures
TRADING Standards officers have seized over £12,000 of illegal tobacco and cigarettes from Plymouth streets in the past 12 months.And an official from Trading Standards said the sale of smuggled and counterfeit tobacco in Plymouth is a “bigger problem than first anticipated”.The warning comes as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures reveal the level of criminals smuggling illegal tobacco into the UK are on the rise. The number of tobacco arrests and prosecutions have increased over the past three years, HMRC have revealed.
Lear MoreCoalition Welcomes Final Passage of Anti-Contraband Tobacco Legislation
The National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco (NCACT) today welcomed final passage of Bill C-10, the Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act, landmark legislation that provides law enforcement officials across Canada with tools to make communities safer from organized crime. “We are very pleased to see this legislation become law. It increases the power of police to address contraband tobacco by making smuggling large volumes of illegal cigarettes a criminal offence,” said Gary Grant, a 39-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service and Chair of Toronto Crime Stoppers.
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Courthouse News Service
NEW ORLEANS (CN) – World Wrestling Entertainment can seize counterfeit merchandise sold outside live wrestling events, the 5th Circuit ruled. Though a federal judge had denied WWE relief against “fly-by-night” counterfeiters selling unauthorized products, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit found Tuesday that an ex-parte seizure and temporary restraining order are available to it under the Trademark Counterfeiting Act. These counterfeiters set up shop alongside wrestling fans as they line up outside live WWE events across the country, “cannibalizing WWE’s merchandise sales by purveying unauthorized products,” according to the ruling’s summary of WWE’s case.
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Gov’t to raise tax on tobacco products
VietNamNet Bridge – The Government is planning to increase the special consumption tax imposed on tobacco products to raise income for the state budget and reduce the number of smokers.Deputy director of the Taxation Policy Department under the Ministry of Finance, Nguyen Van Tuan, said: “The Government has asked the National Congress to raise the tax imposed on tobacco products from 65 per cent to 70 per cent by the end of 2018 and to 75 per cent in 2019”.
However, the Government should improve its efforts to prevent people from using smuggled products because it hit the State budget, Tuan said.
He predicted the draft law would help the Government claim VND154 trillion ($7.3 billion) in taxes for the State budget from 2015 to 2020.
Director of the Health Ministry’s Medical Examination and Treatment Department, Luong Ngoc Khue, said that Viet Nam had one of the highest smoking populations in the world.
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/115785/gov-t-to-raise-tax-on-tobacco-products.html
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