Woman caught smuggling cigarettes and tobacco into UK at Gatwick Airport is sentenced
A woman who smuggled thousands of pounds worth of cigarettes and tobacco into the UK through a host of airports including Gatwick has been sentenced.
Lavinia Akyurt, 42, of Hartlepool at the time of the offences, now of Southsea, Hampshire was arrested in September last year at Gatwick Airport in connection with the offences.
An investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) found that between January 2015 and September 2016, she smuggled tobacco on four occasions and organised two smuggling attempts by family members.
In total, 59,400 cigarettes and 23.25 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco were smuggled through London Stansted, Durham Tees Valley, and Gatwick airports.
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Police seize counterfeit brand-name products in Southern Taiwan
KAOHSIUNG – More than 6,000 pieces of counterfeit brand-name clothing and footwear were seized in Tainan and Kaohsiung in police raids targeted at markets in those two cities in southern Taiwan, police said Friday. The brands include Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Nike, Addidas, Under Armour, New Balance, Hello Kitty and Doraemon.
Some of seized counterfeit articles, including sneakers and T-shirts, were put on display at an office of the Second Special Police Corps in Kaohsiung. They would have a total value of NT$5 million (US$164,100) at retails stores if they were genuine, an officer told reporters.
The counterfeits were seized from six vendors in Tainan and Kaohsiung who had been selling them at traditional markets and night markets, which often attract large numbers of tourists, said Tai Chao-tung, a captain of the Special Police Corps’ Criminal Investigation Brigade.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2017/06/23/498984/police-seize.htm
Lear MorePretend wheelchair bound passenger arrested for gold smuggling
A male passenger acting as a disable person arrested for alleged gold smuggling at Chhatrpati Shivaji International Airport.
Customs official said, the accused Nimisha Gudhka from Jamnagar, Gujarat arrived from Dubai and was trying to smuggle gold weighing 660 grams, worth 19.8 lakh concealed in his trouser pocket and purse.
In a trick to fool airport officials the passenger requested a wheelchair and attendant to exit the airport, but his body language rose suspicion of officials, upon interrogation confessed to smuggling in gold.
As the value of the gold was not too high he was only booked under Customs Act and let off, that is time everybody surprised that the passenger stood up on his feet and walked away.
http://citytoday.news/pretend-wheelchair-bound-passenger-arrested-for-gold-smuggling/
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Man jailed after trading illegal tobacco
A man from Oswaldtwistle has been jailed for evading more than £2 million in taxes by trading in illegal tobacco.
49-year-old Lee Foster, of Highfield Close, was caught by HM Revenue and Customs buying illegal cigarettes and tobacco to sell on during a surveillance operation in 2014.
He was arrested at Manchester Airport just before Christmas as he flew home from a holiday in Tenerife. Today he was jailed for four years and nine months for his part in a £16.5 million Excise Duty fraud that centred on a criminal network based in Blackburn.
Detailed records kept by the gang leader, Iqbal Haji, of Blackburn, mention Foster 183 times buying illegal tobacco products to sell on during a four-year period. Sandra Smith, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC.
https://www.2br.co.uk/news/local-news/2315010/man-jailed-after-trading-illegal-tobacco/
Lear MoreTones of tobacco detected in the east of the country
Tones of tobacco have been detected by customs officers and prosecutors in the eastern part of the country. Law enforcers disclosed and liquidated a criminal group, specializing in large-scale tobacco smuggling.
Several searches and detentions have been conducted in this respect.
Thus, on the evening of June 13, in the region of Budesti, law enforcers stopped a truck of Kamaz model. Its trailer contained 220 boxes with 5940 kg of fermented tobacco without documents of origin, meant to be fraudulently transported over the eastern border of the country. The truck was accompanied by another car, whose driver had the role of an escort, moving ahead of the truck, a tactic used by smugglers to inspect the predetermined route and to inform the driver of the truck transporting the goods about the possibility to continue the movement.
https://en.crimemoldova.com/news/crime/tones-of-tobacco-detected-in-the-east-of-the-country/
Lear MoreMore than RM67M worth of smuggled goods seized in Malaysian waters
PUTRAJAYA (Bernama) – More than RM67 million worth of goods were seized by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in smuggling cases recorded since 2007 until February this year.
MMEA Director-General Maritime Rear Admiral Datuk Zulkifli Abu Bakar said the smuggled items included cigarette, liquor, diesel and petrol.
“Cigarette recorded the highest value with RM6.3 million last year,” he said when met by Bernama recently.
He said smuggling was a serious problem and efforts were continuously made by the agency to step up patrol and curb the activity. The focus is on drug smuggling and other contraband in the northern part of the country, he added.
http://borneobulletin.com.bn/rm67m-worth-smuggled-goods-seized-malaysian-waters/
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Hong Kong police seize furs, sandalwood and electronic goods worth HK$7m in anti-smuggling raid.
Almost HK$7 million worth of smuggled goods destined for the mainland were confiscated by Hong Kong police during an anti-smuggling operation in Sai Kung East Country Park on Monday night. But six smugglers managed to flee on a mainland Chinese speedboat with a coxswain on board.
At about 10.30pm on Monday, six men were found loading boxes from a car on to a speedboat berthed at Wong Shek pier on Pak Tam Road in Sai Kung East Country Park, according to police.
As officers moved in, the six men abandoned the car and boxes of goods and jumped on to the speedboat which sped towards the mainland.
Officers seized 300kg of fur, 48kg of suspected sandalwood, 45kg of bird’s nest, about 2,000 mobile phones and five boxes of electronic components.
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1.6kg gold smuggling bid: Tamil Nadu official held
TRICHY: An immigration official was caught red-handed by customs sleuths in Trichy on Thursday when he was trying to hand over gold biscuits to a passenger who had earlier arrived from Kuala Lumpur with the smuggled valuable.
According to sources, the sleuths of the air intelligence wing detained the official in the early hours of Thursday outside the airport when he was about to hand over the 1.6 kg of gold biscuits smuggled in by the passenger.
Balaji Baskar, a Bureau of Immigration sub inspector, who was on duty at the Trichy airport, secured 16 pieces of gold biscuits – each weighing 100 grams – from Sadique Ali, who arrived from Malaysia by an Air Asia flight, say sources.
Ali, a native of Lalgudi, handed over the bis cuits to Balaji Basker before undergoing the routine checking and frisking process at the immigration and customs area.
Five arrested in duty-evasion racket amounting to Rs26 crore in Mumbai
The Central Intelligence Unit at Air Cargo Complex (ACC) in Andheri on Monday arrested five people for allegedly evading customs duty payment of Rs26 crore. According to the police, they were looking to smuggle mobile phones and accessories into the country. The five accused include custom brokers and importers.
Custom brokers are agents for an importer or exporter who are paid brokerage for clearing goods through customs. “Gross mis-declaration has been resorted to evade payment of customs duty. The description of the declared goods was vague so as to undervalue the consignment. Most of the goods were branded products,” said Atul Saxena, additional commissioner, ACC. Certain entities registered in Hong Kong, China and Chinese Taipei are suppliers for most of the consignments of mobile accessories.
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Foiled! Gold smuggler nabbed by customs officials at IGI airport
Officials say that the department has seized gold worth Rs 1.4 crore in four different incidents recently, for which they have arrested four passengers so far.
Wrapping sweets, chocolates, and wafers in aluminium foil may not seem suspicious, but for Delhi Customs officials, it certainly was. Customs officials recently nabbed a 50-year-old man who had beaten 1 kg of gold into foil and painted it silver to avoid detection.
Gold smuggling into the Capital is certainly on the rise. Officials say that the department has seized gold worth Rs 1.4 crore in four different incidents recently, for which they have arrested four passengers so far.
In the most recent case, officials said that following a tip-off, they intercepted a man who had landed at Delhi airport from Dubai two days ago. While screening his luggage, some objectionable items were spotted and he was requested to cooperate while his bag was getting frisked.
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