Premixed coffee seized in raids
KOTA KINABALU: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry has crippled an operation distributing fake premixed instant coffee. The ministry’s enforcement chief Suhaimi Mat Sari said nearly 40,000 sachets bearing imitations of the popular Tongkat Ali with Ginseng by CNI Global (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd were seized from several premises here on Friday. He said samples of the premixed coffee with a value of nearly RM60,000 would be sent to the Chemistry Department for analysis. “We believe this operation has been going on in Sabah for six months,” Suhaimi said, adding that the fake products are mainly being sold in coffee shops.
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Corrupt, chaotic market management turns Hanoi into hub for smugglers
Ineffective law enforcement has turned Hanoi into a smuggling hub where counterfeit products are produced, consumed and transited. During a conference on the matter held Thursday in the capital, Nguyen Duc Chung, director of the Hanoi Police, said scores of forgers operate in the city, which is also a waypoint for smuggled goods moving south from China and Thai knock-offs moving north from the road through Laos. Hanoi police recently seized 60 tons of traditional medicine and nearly one ton of firecrackers smuggled from China.
Chinese tobacco has been spotted in Hanoi slapped with stickers from the local brand Vinataba. Chung said groups of vendors operating in major markets in the capital (such as Dong Xuan and Ninh Hiep) make direct orders for Chinese counterfeits over the phone. The goods are smuggled via rail or truck with help from fake companies operating along the border.
Lear MorePrescription drug wholesaler pleads guilty to smuggling counterfeit cancer drugs
The FDA recently reported that the owner of a Turkish drug wholesaler has pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling misbranded and adulterated cancer treatment drugs into the United States. Sabahaddin Akman, owner of the Turkish firm Ozay Pharmaceuticals, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, to smuggling counterfeit cancer drugs including multiple shipments of Altuzan, the Turkish version of bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech).
The drugs did not meet FDA standards and had not been approved for distribution in the United States. The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations organized an international investigation that led to Akman’s arrest in Puerto Rico in January 2014. The investigation identified Akman and his company as a source of Altuzan.
Lear MoreGibraltar Government hits out at ‘sensationalist’ reporting of EU tobacco smuggling report
FAKE TV scenes depicting tobacco smuggling in Gibraltar have been slammed by the Gibraltar Government, following the uproar over an EU report. According to the anti-fraud office OLAF’s report, tobacco smuggling on the Rock cost the EU €700 million in tax revenue between 2010 and 2013. Spain’s High Court has opened up an official investigation, following the recommendation of the 400-page report, sent to the Spanish and UK governments. “There are reasons to believe that tobacco smuggling and money laundering that affect financial and other interests of the EU have been committed in Gibraltar,” concludes the report.
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Owner of Turkish wholesaler pleads guilty in fake Avastin case
FDA badgeThe owner of Turkish wholesaler Ozay Pharmaceuticals has pleaded guilty to smuggling misbranded and adulterated cancer drugs into the US. Sabahaddin Akman pleaded guilty in a district court in St. Louis, Missouri, where he initially shipped the illegal drugs, which did not meet the FDA’s standards and had not been approved for distribution in the US. The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) coordinated a complex, multi-layered international investigation that led to Akman’s arrest in Puerto Rico in January 2014. The investigation identified Akman and his company as a source of Altuzan, the Turkish version of Roche’s cancer treatment Avastin (bevacizumab).
Lear MoreNAFDAC warns against fake drugs
Victoria Ayuwei—-The National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control is warning consumers about fake fake drugs and products. The Director General, Paul Orhi, at a one day workshop in Enugu urged patent medicine dealers in Enugu state to desist from stocking fake and substandard drugs. He said that the fight against such products was not for the agency alone but was one that needed everyone’s contributions. “The fight against fake product is not for NAFDAC alone; it is a fight that everyone should contribute to. “You can contribute by reporting the ones you see, avoiding fake products so that the proprietors will not flourish in the business, buying products from authentic sources and obtaining letter head receipts of purchase.
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In focus: Essentra’s brand protection operations
Essentra medicine packTowards the end of last year, filtration and packaging specialist Filtrona shook up its business with a restructuring and re-branding under the Essentra name. Essentra Packaging – which incorporates the company’s photo identification cards business as well as tamper-evidence, tear tapes and anti-counterfeit and authentication technologies – recently reported first-half revenues rose by a healthy 47 per cent to £109m, although the numbers were inflated by the acquisitions of healthcare packaging businesses Contego and Dakota.
Lear MoreTrooper arrests three for possessing counterfeit clothing
ELKO — A traffic stop Tuesday afternoon led to the arrest of three woman who had counterfeit designer clothing in the back of their vehicle.
According to the Nevada Highway Patrol, Catalina Zavala-Garcia, 35, of San Jose, Calif., failed to move into the left lane while passing a trooper’s patrol vehicle that had stopped another car on Interstate 80 near Wells. Trooper Jim Stewart said legally drivers are required to move lanes in such a situation. The trooper pulled over Zavala-Garcia and spoke with her and the two passengers, Mariana E. Rios-Cervantes, 25, of Campbell, Calif., and Claudia Orozco, 20, of San Jose, Calif.
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Tobacco smuggling in Gibraltar ‘cost EU €700M’
The €700-million figure is contained in a confidential new report by the EU’s anti-fraud agency Olaf, cited by Spain’s El País newspaper on Thursday. The report also fingers specific companies involved in the illegal tobacco trade, according to the daily. Olaf’s 400-page report is the result of investigations into a complaint concerning increased smuggling of cigarettes across the frontier between Gibraltar and Spain in the period 2009-2013, an OLAF spokesperson told The Local recently.
Spanish media outlets said recently Gibraltar’s cigarette imports tripled from 2006 to 2011, with 110 million packets coming into the territory in 2012 alone.
http://www.thelocal.es/20140814/tobacco-smuggling-in-gibraltar-cost-eu-700m
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Fake parts reporting: FAR extends comment deadline
The US government has extending the comment deadline on its proposals to require contractors to report non-conforming components discovered in the supply chain, including counterfeits.
Earlier this year, the US Department of Defense issued a final rule that required certain contractors to detect and report counterfeit electronic parts, and this was swiftly followed by a separate proposal – issued by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council that would significantly broaden the scope of the reporting requirements.
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