Australia’s Cigarette Wars Turn Violent
Giles Roca: Cigarette taxation must be stubbed out without delay
The illegal trade in contraband tobacco continues to be a growing carbuncle on the UK’s balance sheet, writes Giles Roca The TMA has just published its third annual anti-illicit trade survey. This is the largest study of its kind. It measures 12,000 smokers’ attitudes, awareness and behaviours in regard to illegal and non-UK duty paid tobacco. The results reveal the true extent of how the government’s high tobacco tax policy is shifting consumer purchases from the legal, duty-paid market to other sources. Counterfeit, smuggled and cross-border purchases cost the Treasury billions of pounds in expected tobacco tax revenue every year and fund criminal networks that make substantial profits from the illegal trade.
Lear MoreThe day Pravin Gordhan took on big (illegal) tobacco
Gordhan and his colleagues’ investigations of the illicit tobacco trade – which appears to involve top politicians and businessmen – is possibly the reason they’re being targeted now.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan must be wondering whether one of his old plans while he was in charge of the SA Revenue Service (Sars) – combating the illegal tobacco trade in South Africa – was worth it.
Because that is apparently where the nightmare he finds himself in now began.WhileGordhan will not be reporting to the Hawks this afternoon, it appears as if former Sars deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay, together with former group executives Pete Richter and Johan van Loggerenberg, will be knocking on Brigadier NyamekaXaba’s door, where they will be informed of their rights under the constitution and the charges against them.
Police arrest 6 for dealing in counterfeit products
A swoop on dealers in counterfeit products in the central business district (CBD) of Accra has led to the arrest of six persons.
The joint operation by the Commercial Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the SWAT Unit of the Ghana Police Service also led to the confiscation of alleged fake products which were found in the suspects’ shops.
The items retrieved included television and fridge guards meant to protect electrical gadgets against voltage fluctuations which are harmful to all motor-operated gadgets.
Criminal offence
Briefing journalists after the operation at Okaishie and Opera Square in Accra, the Director of Operations of the CID, Chief Superintendent of Police Mr Felix Mawusi, said the operation was to clamp down on trading in forged trademark products in the country.
http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/police-arrest-6-for-dealing-in-counterfeit-products.html
Lear MoreDoes eBay Have 1.7 Million Counterfeit Products for Sale?
According to The Counterfeit Report, which tracks the sale of counterfeit or fake items on major e-commerce websites, eBay Inc.’s (NASDAQ: EBAY) sites have a huge number of these on sale that match the criteria. This begs the question whether the auction site has done enough to crack down on the practice.
There is a difference between counterfeit and fake items:
The eBay counterfeit products are trademarked replicas of real products, designed to take advantage of the superior value and reputation of the real product. The eBay fake products are products that do not even exist in the manufacturer’s product line, but are represented as the authentic branded product and bear the manufacturer’s registered trademark. Both are sold on eBay.
The Counterfeit Report actually buys a number of the products on eBay and reports them to the auction company.
http://247wallst.com/retail/2016/08/24/does-ebay-have-1-7-million-counterfeit-products-for-sale/
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FDA Warns Public On Fake ‘Tomato Powder’
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has advised the public to be wary of the production, distribution and sale of a reddish powdered product sold as ‘Tomato powder’ on the Ghanaian market.
A statement signed by Mr HuduMogtari, the Chief Executive Officer of the FDA, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said investigations conducted by the FDA on the so called, ‘Tomato powder’ revealed that there was no tomato present in the substance.
https://www.newsghana.com.gh/fda-warns-public-on-fake-tomato-powder/
Iraqi mission staff fined over cigarette smuggling
Two officials working at the Iraqi diplomatic mission in Geneva have received stiff fines for a huge cigarette smuggling scam. Some 600,000 packets of cigarettes were sold on the black market in northwest France.
The two Iraqi permanent mission staff members were fined CHF170,000 ($177,000) and CHF120,000 for the cigarette smuggling ring, which owed CHF2.4 million in unpaid tax.
The Federal Customs Administration on Monday confirmed a SonntagsZeitung report which stated that they had abused privileges normally reserved for diplomats and illegally resold duty-free cigarettes in France over a three-year period.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/up-in-smoke_iraqi-mission-staff-fined-over-cigarette-smuggling/42392144
Lamèque man pleads guilty to possession of contraband tobacco
FREDERICTON (GNB) – Félix Antoine Savoie, 61, of Lamèque, pleaded guilty in provincial court in Bathurst on Aug. 14 to possessing more than 20,000 illegal cigarettes. Savoie was charged under section 121.1 (4)(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada as well as sections 2.2(1)(a) and 2.2(1.6) of theTobacco Tax Act of New Brunswick. Fines totaling $27,950.40 were imposed.
The guilty plea follows enforcement activities of June 30 where the Bathurst City Police and the Contraband Enforcement Unit of the Department of Justice and Public Safety, working in partnership, intercepted Savoie and found him in possession of illegal cigarettes.
The contraband tobacco market is estimated to represent a revenue loss to the province of $13 million annually.
Revenues from the sale of illegal tobacco are often funnelled into organized crime. Manufacturers of illegal tobacco products are not subject to standards or inspections.
http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2016.08.0775.html
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Patra police make arrests over contraband smokes
Police in Patra, on Wednesday detained three Pakistani nationals, aged 37, 33 and 15, believed to be members of a racket trading in contraband tobacco in the western port.
Initially officers arrested the 37-year-old after finding around 2 kilograms of contraband tobacco in his possession. A subsequent search on the suspect’s home turned up 1,200 packets of contraband cigarettes.Later in the day, officers tracked down the other two Pakistanis on a motorcycle carrying 310 packets of contraband cigarettes and half a kilo of contraband tobacco.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/210965/article/ekathimerini/news/patra-police-make-arrests-over-contraband-smokes
SA, Zimbabwe goods smuggling incidents on the rise
The ban on some foreign import goods in Zimbabwe has resulted in the increase of incidents of smuggling by informal traders and private people along the border across the Limpopo River.
The Beitbridge Border Post between South Africa and Zimbabwe is one of the busiest ports of entries in the country which operates on a 24-hour basis.
Travellers who use the border into Zimbabwe are now required to only carry a limited number of some goods.
Zimbabwe introduced the ban last month and some Zimbabweans and South Africans protested against the move.