Corner shop owners know illegal tobacco is being sold
A new survey has found that more than half of corner shop owners (57 per cent) are aware of smuggled/counterfeit products being sold in their area.
Alarmingly, 73 per cent of retailers believe that smuggling/cross border purchases will increase in the next 12 months. This coincides with the introduction of regulations from the EU which will ban the sale of cigarette packs of less than 20 and packs under 30g of hand rolling tobacco.
Lear MoreFive arrested in smuggling investigation
Five men have been arrested in North London, on suspicion of smuggling tobacco and alcohol, after an operation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to tackle an estimated £1m tax fraud.
The men were arrested after suspected illegal cigarettes were discovered in a vehicle at an industrial unit in the Tottenham area. The cigarettes were found in hollowed out metal plating, part of a cargo that had arrived from Poland. Further searches of two other industrial units revealed large quantities of suspected smuggled alcohol.
In total, HMRC officers seized 3,500,000 cigarettes and over 150,000 cans of beer and cider from the industrial units. During subsequent searches of private addresses and vehicles officers seized £40,000 in cash.
Lear MoreCounterfeit products worth Dh75m seized
The largest of its kind haul in Dubai unearths half-a-million pieces of fake printers and ink cartridges. The Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP) sector in the Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai, has confiscated pirated goods worth Dh75 million, the largest seizure of its kind in Dubai.
The department raided a warehouse in the emirate and seized more than half-a-million pieces of duplicate printers and ink cartridges. The raid was a part of DED’s ongoing efforts to protect intellectual property and trademark owners as well as to enhance Dubai’s reputation as a business hub locally and globally.
http://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/retail/counterfeit-products-worth-dh75m-seized-1.1573361
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Retailers and product safety – your responsibilities
Product safety law is fraught with dangers for those in the supply chain and is especially acute for those involved in retail, says Teresa Hitchcock. Failure to comply with legislation can lead to prosecution.
Further, there are a number of enforcement powers available to the regulatory authorities, which are backed up by sanctions in addition to prosecution where retailers fail to ensure that products which they placed on the market or supply for sale are safe.
Given the potential repercussions, retailers do need to ensure that they are aware of and meet their responsibilities with regard to product safety.
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How mPedigree built a business by combating counterfeit products
The mPedigree Network is an African enterprise offering manufacturers the technology to help combat the sale of counterfeit products. It has been particularly successful in protecting both pharmaceutical companies and consumers from purchasing fake medicine in African countries, where the informal distribution and retail channels have made it easy for counterfeits to perforate the market.
The company, founded in 2007 by Ghanaian entrepreneur Bright Simons, has since grown operations to 12 countries, with offices in nine, including India. It has hundreds of clients, including manufacturers of veterinary medicine, electrical products, baby food, cosmetics and high-yield seeds used in agriculture.
Former NC correctional officers accused of smuggling cellphones, contraband to inmates
Two former state correctional officers were charged Monday in federal court in connection with a bizarre kidnapping case in which a prison inmate is alleged to have orchestrated an intrastate scheme with a contraband cellphone.Gregory Dustin Gouldman, 31, at Polk Correctional Institute from 2005 to May 2015, is accused of smuggling mobile phones, tobacco, marijuana and packages of AA batteries into a “high-security maximum control unit.”
Jason Dean, 29, a pawn shop worker who was hired at Polk in 2014, is accused of extorting “things of value” from inmates and lying to FBI agents and a federal grand jury investigating contraband smuggling after the kidnapping in 2014 of a Wake County prosecutor’s father.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article32267136.html
Lear MoreIllinois Man Denies Cancer Drug Smuggling Conspiracy Charge
An Illinois man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to conspiring with an online Canadian pharmacy to smuggle mislabeled, unapproved and, in two cases, counterfeit prescription drugs into the U.S. to sell to doctors.
Ram Kamath appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch for arraignment in Missoula. So far, he is the only one of the 14 individuals and companies named as defendants to appear in court to face criminal smuggling, conspiracy and money laundering charges.
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Oireachtas committee sought action on cigarette smuggling in 2013
An Oireachtasdommittee wrote to the justice minister in March 2013 highlighting the need to tackle the huge increase in illegal cigarette smuggling. Committee chairman, David Stanton TD, wrote to Alan Shatter outlining the committee’s concerns and representations they had had from the National Federation of Retail Newsagents on the issue. However, it appears nothing was done and Mr Stanton said his committee would be focusing on the subject again when it reconvenes next month.
He made his comments in the wake of an undercover investigation which shows the country is awash with illegal tobacco.
Lear MoreMan,37, arrested for selling fake insecticides
A 37-year-old man is in the grips of the Police in the Eastern region for selling fake insecticide coil.The suspect, KwabenaOwusu, was accosted by traders at the Nsawam market who feared the product was unwholesome.
Upon interrogation, he admitted using powdered broom sticks and cow manure to produce the insecticide called Magic Scent.The product is yet-to-be sent to the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) for testing.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/crime/Man-37-arrested-for-selling-fake-insecticides-377548
Lear MoreKelantan UPP Seizes 8,720 Kg Tobacco Worth Nearly RM400,000
The Kelantan anti-smuggling unit (UPP) seized 8,720 kg of tobacco believed to have been smuggled in from Thailand, worth nearly RM400,000 in a raid in Pasir Mas early Monday.
Its commander Rusli Karim said the raid was carried out around 2am at a store in KampungBanggolChicha, Pasir Mas.”The raid was conducted after a week-long surveillance. We found 436 tobacco bales believed to have been smuggled from Thailand through some jetties along the Malaysia-Thai border,” he told a press conference here.
Rusli said investigations revealed that the hidden store was used as a transit before the tobacco was being transferred to a cigarette factory in the west coast area.
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