Arrests in fake car products probe
A man and a woman in their forties have been arrested as part of a police investigation into the sale of fake car products. The pair were detained in Ballymena, Co Antrim, by detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) organised crime branch. Police also seized two cars, a Porsche and a BMW, as well as counterfeit key fobs, badges and wheel caps for brands including Audi and Mercedes during searches in Ballymena, Portstewart and Belfast.
Detective Inspector Todd Clements said officers had been following up on a complaint from a car manufacturer. “Officers have seized a significant amount of what we believe are counterfeit car products being sold online in a business with a substantial turnover
Lear MoreCounterfeit Seahawks merchandise can be hard to tackle
As the new Seahawks season picks up speed, fans are showing their enthusiasm by buying jerseys, flags and anything else tied to the team or their favorite player. But there’s no shortage of websites selling counterfeits, or just scamming the fans. Last month Anine Colaire’s adult stepson, Cory, was searching for a gray Steven Hauschka jersey at the pro shops near their home in Olympia. Because the stores and the National Football League (NFL) website didn’t have one, Colaire suggested he do a little more Web browsing. When he found the No. 4 jersey he wanted, Cory shelled out the $99. But the jersey never arrived.
http://seattletimes.com/html/sports/2024355360_seahawksscamsxml.html
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Revenue ‘making gains’ against cigarette smuggling
The Irish Cancer Society says the Revenue Commissioners have made significant gains in slowing the rate of tobacco being smuggled into Ireland. The group says contraband cigarettes, which are brought into Ireland illegally, are sold on the black market at cheaper prices.
Kathleen O’Meara, the Head of Advocacy and Communications with the Irish Cancer Society, said: “It’s very very important that the Revenue Commissioners and the enforcement agencies are doing their job. “We want to make sure they are fully resourced in doing that, and it’s very important that the supply chain of smuggled cigarettes is examined so that it can be stopped.”
http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/revenue-making-gains-against-cigarette-smuggling-639767.html
Lear MoreEFCC to partner Customs against tobacco smuggling
CHAIRMAN of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde, on Tuesday, promised to exploit the commission’s relationship with the Nigeria Customs Service, to forge a common front in intercepting and curbing illegal importation of tobacco into the country.
Lamorde, who made the promise when the Managing Director, British America Tobacco Company, Mr Chris McAllister, led members of his management team on a courtesy visit to the commission, assured the Tobacco Company of EFCC’s readiness to fight illegal importation of tobacco into the country. “If we have an idea of how some of these cigarettes are being smuggled into the country, we can work with you and even bring in Customs, because they are the ones at the entry points and border posts,” Lamorde said.
Lear MoreEight held for smuggling tobacco goods
CHENNAI: The state police busted a tobacco product smuggling racket with the arrest of eight people on Tuesday. Investigators charged the gang with smuggling banned tobacco products like gutkha from Kerala to many parts of the state and seized a consignment worth more than 6 lakh from Villupuram and Kanyakumari. Police arrested one suspect in Villupuram and seven others in Kanyakumari. The Kanyakumari police and officers of the organised crime investigation unit intercepted an SUV near Asaripallam in Kanyakumari district but its occupants tried to escape. Police teams chased and arrested seven men in the vehicle after finding tobacco products concealed in 27 bags.
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Cigarette smuggling on the fast rise
The cigarette black market has increased very fast in July 2014, up to 17%, compared to 16.1%, in May and approximately 14% at the end of last year, according to the data provided by the company Novel Research. It is the highest level registered during the last three years. The North-Eastern Region continues to be the area mostly affected by the illicit cigarette trade, although this region of the country is the only one where the black market dropped in July (by 7.8 p.p., down to 34%). Significant increases are registered in Bucharest (plus 3.1 p.p., up to 15.8%) and in the West (plus 3 p.p. up to 26.1%). As related to the origin, according to the stamp applied on the pack, the “Cheap Whites” continue to have the highest rate on the black market, being on the rise compared to May (plus 11.2 p.p. up to 50.6%.). The products bearing stamps from Ukraine and Moldova continue to have significant rates (16.4% and respectively 20.8%), however, they are lower than in May”, has stated Marian Marcu, the Manager of the company Novel Research.
http://actmedia.eu/daily/cigarette-smuggling-on-the-fast-rise/53765
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Romania-Rep. of Moldova joint customs operations reduce cigarette smuggling in north-eastern Romania
The Romania-Republic of Moldova joint customs operations led to a decrease in the cigarette smuggling in north-eastern Romania, the Customs General Directorate (DGV) informed on Wednesday. A Novel Research study released on Tuesday had showed that the cigarette black market has been on a rising trend in July 2014, reaching the highest level in the last three years
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Terrorists, Tyrants, And Tobacco: How The Illicit Cigarette Trade Fuels Instability In The Middle East
The sea is the circulatory system of the world economy, through which the economic blood of trade, ideas, and information flows. At odds with this healthy economic lifeblood are the pathogens of theft, corruption, and illicit trafficking. In addition to patently illegal contraband, such as narcotics and weapons, numerous illicit goods move through the maritime transportation system, avoiding taxes and undermining legitimate trade. Tobacco is one of the most commonly smuggled illicit goods around the world.
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Higher cigarette taxes boon to organised crime
Higher taxes aren’t generally a path to economic growth and job creation. Higher cigarette taxes, however, are increasingly boosting at least one sector of the economy, organized crime.
‘Smuggled cigarettes have become the new currency of organized crime, and a lot of these criminal organizations are finding that it’s more profitable than illegal narcotics,’ Rich Marianos, the retired Assistant Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, recently noted.
Marianos said that black market tobacco smuggling has become “a high-profit, low-risk criminal enterprise. Compared to drug offenses where there’s a mandatory minimum sentence, there’s no penalties out there for the cigarette trafficker.”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/20/Higher-Cigarette-Taxes-Boon-to-Organized-Crime
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Expert raises concerns cig. tax could increase smuggling
A former assistant director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says if state lawmakers approve a new cigarette tax for Philadelphia, smuggling could become a problem. Richard Marianos worked for more than twenty years on investigations of gangs and firearm trafficking operations, among other things. He believes that if lawmakers approve a $2 per pack tax as proposed, criminals will see an opportunity to sell cigarettes illegally on the streets. “They’re being sold on the black market to avoid taxes or they’re being sold on the black market to increase more criminal revenue and support more parts of a criminal organization.” “They will take the profit margin and they can invest more money in their narcotics trade, they can trade for more guns, and they can finance more criminal activity for the amount of money that they would be making.”
http://www.witf.org/news/2014/08/expert-raises-concerns-cig-tax-could-increase-smuggling.php
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