Illegal tobacco costs $200M a year
The Lebanese treasury can boost revenues by up to $200 million if authorities succeeded in a campaign to crack down on tobacco smuggling, Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil said Thursday.
“The amount of money which is being squandered and wasted as result of tobacco smuggling ranges between $150 million to $200 million a year,” Khalil said after touring the facilities of state-run tobacco company Regie.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Local/2015/Apr-03/293166-illegal-tobacco-costs-200m-a-year.ashx
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DRI seizes cigarettes worth Rs 23 cr at Surat port
In one of the biggest foreign cigarette hauls, officials from Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Surat identified and detained six containers from Dubai trying to smuggle imported cigarettes worth Rs 23.29 crore into the country.
While, two of the containers were supposed to contain waste paper, the remaining four were to contain LDPE regrind. The containers were under transshipment from Adani Hazira Port, Surat, and had been imported by two Bhuj-based parties.
http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/dri-seizes-smuggled-cigarettes-worth-rs-25-cr/
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Cigarette trafficking spawning other crimes
One frigid afternoon in January, two men transferring cigarettes to a van from a Glen Allen rental storage unit were interrupted by robbers who ordered them to the floor and held them at gunpoint. The thieves finished loading the vehicle and then drove it off with $90,000 worth of cigarettes and $25,000 in cash.
Four men have been charged by federal authorities in that robbery and three other recent Richmond-area holdups that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cigarettes and cash.
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Dewsbury woman Shantaz Bi caught smuggling 55,000 cigarettes in 8 suitcases
A woman was caught trying to smuggle 55,000 cigarettes into Britain. Now Shantaz Bi, of Dewsbury, has been given a suspended jail sentence. Bi, who is unemployed, tried to evade detection by wrapping the hundreds of packets in tinfoil in a crude attempt to hide them. It is thought she planned to sell them in Dewsbury. She has been sentenced after an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/dewsbury-woman-shantaz-bi-caught-8932847
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Smuggled cigarettes seized in Baalbek bust
Authorities Friday seized three carloads of smuggled cigarettes from a depot in the eastern city of Baalbek. The joint operation, which took place shortly before midday, was carried out by customs officers and members of State Security.
The cartons of confiscated cigarettes, which included several foreign brands including Pall Mall and Marlboro, were loaded into three vehicles by the security forces.
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Spanish Customs nabs 20 cigarette smugglers
MADRID: The Spanish Customs detained over 20 people who allegedly worked for a smuggling group El Lolo. Customs official said the Eastern European gangs are increasingly becoming involved in tobacco smuggling.
El Lolo ran a tobacco smuggling network with relatives and childhood friends, trafficking around 150,000 packets of cigarettes each week during 2014 or 7.5 million over the course of the year – according to police and tax authorities.
Customs also wanted to arrest Francisco José Mancilla, also known as El Largo, but he was allegedly occupied smuggling hashish; instead they took away his wife and sister-in-law.
http://customstoday.com.pk/spanish-customs-nabs-20-cigarette-smugglers/
Lear MoreTobacco smuggling a real problem
SMUGGLING of undeclared goods is becoming an issue in Fiji as the Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority yesterday intercepted processed tobacco in tea bags concealed inside a machine in Suva.
And while authority CEO JitokoTikolevu could not reveal the market value of the processed tobacco last night because of initial investigations, he confirmed the discovery was made when his Customs officers inspecting the container felt suspicious of its contents.
“Apart from processed tobacco, air filters, smoke pipes, cartons of screws and power controllers were also inside the machine,” Mr Tikolevu said.
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Illegal ciggies seized during raid on sundry shops
Customs officers have seized 2,000 sticks of smuggled Tex cigarettes from a sundry shop in Jalan Bukit Tambun with unpaid duty totalling RM1,007.
The officers found packs of the contraband stored in the rear of the shop during a raid yesterday and arrested the outlet operator. In Johor Baru, an Indian national was arrested and several cartons of smuggled cigarettes seized during a Customs raid at a sundry shop in KampungDatoSulaimanMenteri here.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/03/25/Illegal-ciggies-seized-during-raid-on-sundry-shops/
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Dominican Republic Pays Cost Of Rum Smuggling
As reported by Dominican Today, the country’s industry and commerce minister José del Castillo revealed the information at the launch of the government’s Campaign Against Tax Evasion, Smuggling, Counterfeit Alcohol and Tobacco.
“It’s time to revert it before it becomes uncontrollable,” de Castillo said of the country’s black market for rum and cigarettes, adding that this impacts the government, consumers and producers.
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Education can tackle counterfeiting
HONG KONG: Rather than simply relying on legal enforcement to address the problem of counterfeit goods, brands operating in China should also consider demand-led actions, two academics have argued. “Knowing who buys these fakes and why can help firms get a handle on what can be done to dissuade the customers in question from doing so again,” said Lars Bergkvist, associate professor/marketing at the University of Nottingham in Ningbo, and Li Wanzhen at the EDHEC Business School.
http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/Education_can_tackle_counterfeiting.news?ID=34474
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