Spurious ghee worth Rs 1 cr seized.
CUTTACK: The Millennium City has turned into a hub of food adulteration with 15 such units being unearthed in the last two months including one on Monday.
Police and health officials raided a fake ghee manufacturing unit at the Jagatpur Industrial Estate on the day and seized spurious ghee worth Rs 1 crore. Raw materials including palmolein oil, vanaspati, chemical colours, essence, logos of popular ghee brands, packing materials and manufacturing machines were seized from the unit which was also producing tomato and chilli sauce.
DCP Prateek Singh said the unit has been operational since 2011 and manufactured spurious ghee and sauce in gross violation of the food safety standards. The packaging date mentioned on the product’s label was found to be two months in advance, said Singh. While owner of the unit is absconding, its manager and staff have been detained.
Lear MoreThree Held, Fake Currency With Face Value Of Rs 2.78 Lakh Seized
Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], November 28 (ANI): The Kanadia Police in Indore arrested three accused on Saturday for printing fake currency and seized fake notes with a face value of over Rs 2.78 lakh.
As per Anil Rathore, Deputy Superintendent of Police, the operation has been running for about eight months and the crooks printed notes in the denominations of Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500.
“Three people have been arrested for printing fake notes in the denominations of 100, 200 and 500. About 22,000 half-printed notes, paper, ink, printer, and a computer have been seized from them,” he said.
Interrogation revealed that over the last few months, fake notes with face value of Rs 8 to 10 lakh were used in the market by the accused, and further investigation is underway.
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Fake currency of over Rs 3 lakh seized
JEYPORE: Sunabeda police seized fake currency notes with face value of Rs 3,27,600 from a man near Semiliguda bus stand late on Wednesday night.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of police personnel arrested the accused Anam Khillo of Lekdiguda village within Nandapur police limits and recovered 99 notes of Rs 2,000 denomination, 236 notes of Rs 500 and 116 notes of Rs 100 from him.
Anam had reportedly collected the counterfeits from one Jagdish of Malidusura village within Pottangi police limits and had come to Semiliguda to hand it over to a dealer for circulation in the market.
Sources said a fake currency racket is active in Koraput district and its members have been circulating the notes among gullible people in rural areas. Police have launched a probe to ascertain the involvement of other persons in the racket.
Lear MoreWebinar on Communication, Coordination and Collaboration- Strengthening the fight against counterfeiting and smuggling
26/11/2020
It has long been known that counterfeiting and smuggling make up a vast ‘global businesses’, representing a multibillion-dollar illegal industry that creates a significant drain on the world economy. Further, it negatively impacts legitimate economic activity and facilitates an underground economy and organized crime that deprives governments of revenues for vital public services, forces higher burdens on taxpayers, dislocates hundreds of thousands of legitimate jobs and exposes consumers to dangerous and ineffective products. It is the world’s largest growing industry, and its size is estimated to range between $650 million to $3 trillion according to multiple studies.
No country is immune to the impact of counterfeiting and smuggling and no single sector can be said to be an exception. The wide availability of such products is one of the biggest challenges faced by Indian industry, impacting ‘Brand India’ globally.
FICCI has been focusing on the need to curb the problem of counterfeits, pass offs and smuggled goods, and accordingly has dedicated a forum by establishing CASCADE – Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy. FICCI CASCADE works closely with industry, consumers, media, legal experts, consumer organizations and government to create awareness on how counterfeiting and smuggling have become a serious menace to public health and safety, and why all concerned must make a concerted effort to contain this menace.
in spite of several measures taken by all stakeholders to contain counterfeiting and smuggling, further steps are required, both in the form of policy intervention and awareness generation to address this socio-economic scourge. It is with the above background, FICCI’s Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE) organized a webinar on ‘Communication, Coordination and Collaboration – Strengthening the fight against counterfeiting and smuggling’ on 26 November 2020.
Dr. Amar Patnaik, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha in his keynote address at the webinar elaborated that in order to drive India’s economic resurgence, the parallel economy in counterfeiting and smuggling has to be addressed. This would help if India wants to achieve a $ 5 trillion economy in 2025 and aim to take it to $ 10 trillion by 2027. He further added that measures such as public policy and strong enforcement are much needed to address this twin threat.
Mr Anil Rajput, Chair, FICCI CASCADE in his welcome address said that despite several measures taken by all stakeholders, further steps are required, both in the form of policy intervention and awareness generation to address this socio-economic scourge. Mr. Rajput further reiterated the need for establishing a coordinated national strategy to share intelligence, best practices, and cooperation on cross-border investigations to contain smuggling and counterfeiting
While highlighting the need for all the stakeholders to work in sync to combat this menace, Mr Deepankar Aron, Commissioner, GST (Appeals), Dehradun, Uttarakhand said, “Right data sharing with the right people at the right time is important in order to address this issue.” Further, on the enforcement scenario, Mr Aron said, “In just one-year, fraudulent imports exports worth Rs 2000 crore were detected leading to 200 arrests on white-collar crimes by the DRI, Eastern region.”
FICCI CASCADE has been over the years conducting multi-stakeholder dialogues focusing on identifying opportunities for joint actions between governments, enforcement agencies, industry and consumer organizations to combat this menace. The webinar brought together policymakers, think tanks, enforcement agencies, industry, and consumer organizations to deliberate on industry issues in tackling the flow of counterfeit, smuggled, and spurious products not only in the offline markets but on the online market space too.
The webinar saw participation from the e-commerce giant, Amazon who’s Director for Category Management, India, Mr. Noor Patel discussed measures that Amazon employs to check the proliferation of the issue and highlighted their innovative mechanisms and advanced technology solutions in blocking and tracing bad actors. Mr. Milind Palany, Global Brand Protection Lead – India & South Asia, Johnson & Johnson discussed the collaborative role of government and industry in thwarting this menace such as the need for collaboration with customs through data sharing mechanisms and knowledge dissemination. Speaking on the role of consumers, Prof. Bejon Kumar Misra, International Consumer Policy Expert, JAGO GRAHAK JAGO stated that there is a need to engage consumers more effectively if counterfeiting and smuggling needs to be tackled successfully.
It is unfortunate that the problem of smuggling and counterfeiting has only compounded in the current situation where the world is facing severe disruptions due to COVID-19. The criminals, on the other hand have used the pandemic as an opportunity to exploit the vulnerable consumer and organizations causing significant damage. Mr. Deep Chand, Former Spcl. Commissioner of Police, New Delhi and Advisor, FICCI CASCADE in his concluding remarks said that It is imperative that businesses take proper steps to protect consumers from the proliferation of scammers and infringers that seek to take advantage of the current crisis.
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Illegal liquor worth Rs 12 lakh seized, 2 held
PRAYAGRAJ: A joint team of Jethwara police and crime branch on Monday claimed to have busted a racket involved in the smuggling of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) and country-made liquor near Derwa Bazar area and seized 147 cartons of IMFL and 10 cartons of the country made liquor bottles worth Rs 12 lakh.
The police also arrested two men on the charges of smuggling of illegal liquor bottles from Haryana.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abhay Singh and Sunny Srivastava and are residents of Sangipur and Ramgarh Derwa respectively.
Police are also on the lookout for their accomplice identified as Dhirendra Singh alias Bengali, a resident of Kunda who managed to give a slip to police party. SP (Pratapgarh) Anurag Arya said, “A joint team of Jethwara police and crime branch acting upon a specific tip raided a godown located near an English wine shop near Derwa Bazar area where illegal and smuggled liquor from Harayana was stored.”
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Liquor smuggling racket busted, kingpin arrested in Amritsar
A day after the seizure of a huge quantity of country-made liquor from five persons, the Amritsar rural police in a joint operation with the Excise Department have nabbed the kingpin of the racket from Tarn Taran area on Sunday.
He has been identified as Supreet Singh, alias Joti Sekhon, of Nadohar Chowk, Patti. His interrogation further led to the busting of around eight illegal liquor vends in Patti in Tarn Taran, while more recoveries are likely to be made during the further course of investigation, the police claimed.
On Saturday, the rural police had nabbed Lovepreet Singh of Kaler Kalan, Karanpreet Singh of Kaile Kalan, Pehaljit Singh of Ghuman Kalan, Lovepreet Singh of Ghuman Kalan, all residents of Gurdaspur and Baljinder Singh of Patti (Tarn Taran).
According to the police they used to smuggle Indian made foreign liquor (meant for Arunachal Pradesh) via Tarn Taran to Amritsar, Batala and Gurdaspur through link roads. The police recovered 90 boxes of liquor containing 810 litre liquor.
Lear MoreRs 11.5 lakh fake notes printed at home seized, four held in Thane
THANE: Anti-extortion cell of Thane crime branch arrested four people, including a woman, and seized counterfeit currency of the value of nearly Rs 11.5 lakh, police said on Wednesday.
Muzzamil Surve (40), Muzaffar Pawaskar (41), Pravin Parmar (43) and Nasrin Kazi (41) were arrested, said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Laxmikant Patil.
Parmar and Pawaskar, the kingpins, are suspected to have taken up counterfeiting due to lockdown and financial difficulties. Patil said the fake currency was of the denominations of Rs200, Rs500 and Rs2,000. “Acting on a tip-off that some persons were to come to Mumbra to sell the fake currency, a team of AEC of Thane city police crime unit lead by senior inspector Rajkumar Kothmire laid a trap near the petrol pump opposite the railway station on Tuesday and nabbed them when they arrived to dispose of the currency,” Patil told TOI.
Seven mobiles were also seized from the arrested persons, against whom offences under sections 489(a) and 489(C) of Indian Penal Code have been registered with Mumbra police. “During interrogation, the accused said the fake notes were printed on JK Bond paper by Parmar on a scanner-cum-printer at his house with Pawaskar’s help,” Kothmire said.
Lear MoreMaha FDA raids five food units, seizes goods worth Rs 41 lakh.
The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided five establishments dealing in food items, including edible oil, in Thane and Palghar districts and seized goods worth Rs 41.60 lakh for alleged violation of food safety standards, officials said on Sunday.
The raids were conducted by the Thane unit of the FDA on November 12 and 13 on four establishments in Thane district and one in Palghar, they said.
During the pre-Diwali operation, the FDA also destroyed some items that were unfit for human consumption.
“These establishments were found to be violating the FDA rules and regulations,” Joint Commissioner of FDA (Food) Konkan Division, S S Deshmukh, said.
During a raid at a unit in Haloli in Palghar, it was found that the establishment did not have a proper lab for testing cooking oil and it made use of used tins for packing the oil.
Oil worth Rs 8,16,749 was seized during that operation, he said.
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Chennai: 6.9 kg gold worth Rs 3.6 cr seized, 5 arrested including airport janitors
According to Officials, they had maintained a special vigil at the transit area, based on information regarding gold smuggling by a Dubai returnee on flight 6E 8497.
Air Customs officials have busted a smuggling racket that involved five contract staff who were providing housekeeping services at the Airport.
According to Officials, they had maintained a special vigil at the transit area, based on information regarding gold smuggling by a Dubai returnee on flight 6E 8497. On noticing a janitor entering the toilet in the transit area, officials followed him and caught him in the act of retrieving black bundles from a waste bin. On being cut open, three gold paste packets weighing 2 kg were recovered. 1.81 Kg of gold valued at Rs. 93.2 lakhs was recovered, extracted, and seized under Customs Act.
The suspect passenger who had carried the gold from Dubai was intercepted and identified as Sheikhussman,35, a Trichy native. When he received a call from an individual who had come to receive him, officials followed Sheikh to the area outside the airport and nabbed the person who had come to receive the smuggler. He was identified as one Syed Ibrahim Shah,21, of Chennai.
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In conversation with Prof Arun Kumar, Malcolm Adiseshiah Chair Professor, Institute of Social Sciences
November 13, 2020 |
Smuggling and counterfeiting which are termed as illicit trade is the world’s largest growing economic menace. Owing to its rather complex nature, its size is hard to determine. However, various estimates suggest that over the last ten years, the magnitude of illicit trade has grown from USD 650 billion to about USD 3 trillion, and this criminal activity represents 10 per cent of the global trade, being rightly termed by the FBI as the ‘crime of the 21st century’.
FICCI CASCADE organized an “In conversation with Prof Arun Kumar, Malcolm Adiseshiah Chair Professor, Institute of Social Sciences” on 13th November 2020. Conversation between Prof Kumar and Mr. Najib Shah, Former Chairman, CBIC and Think Tank Member, FICCI CASCADE, was focused on the multifaceted aspects of illicit trade, understanding the risks caused by such activities and the remedial measures to contain the menace.
Mr. Anil Rajput, Chairman, FICCI CASCADE in his remarks said that illicit trade is undeniably one of the greatest risks globally. Unfortunately, the problem has only compounded in the current COVID crisis, where criminals have used the pandemic as an opportunity to increase their nefarious activities, causing significant damage on the economy of the nation, health and safety of the consumers. There is a need to check and substantially reduce the illicit market operations and create a conducive environment for growth and development.
Structural changes, simple tax system and accountability at all levels will help in the reduction of black income, suggested Prof Arun Kumar while addressing the in-conversation series. A holistic view of black market is required, and it needs the involvement of law-and-order machinery. Prof Kumar added that the potential rate of growth of the economy in the absence of black money will be 5 % higher.
Mr. Najib Shah, Former Chairman, CBIC and Think Tank Member, FICCI CASCADE said that the manifestation of black money in social, economic and political space of our lives has a debilitating effect on the institutions of governance and conduct of public policy in the country and the connection between black economy and illicit trade is also palpable. It is evident that the hazards of illicit trade are serious which needs to be dealt with sincere commitment leading to result-oriented effective steps addressing this challenge.
Mr. Arun Chawla, Deputy Secretary General, FICCI while delivering the concluding remarks said that in spite of several measures which are being undertaken by the government, steps are required, both in the form of policy intervention and awareness generation to combat the problem of illicit trade and the related underground economy. There is a need to work towards an effective strategy to strengthen our systems and increase enforcement against such mal- practices.
