Honeywell Safety Products appoints new global president
Honeywell has appointed Sach Sankpal as Global President for its Safety Products division, part of the Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions’ Life Safety business. Sankpal joined the company in 2010 as VP of Strategy and Marketing for Honeywell Life Safety and for the past two years has led the Safety Products business for EMEAI. In his new role, Sankpal said his top priority will be to build upon the company’s position in the global safety industry by expanding its portfolio of personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as training, services and value-added programmes.
Lear MoreJoint operation stubs out illegal tobacco caches in Flint
THOUSANDS of illegal cigarettes and three kilograms of tobacco have been seized from three stores.
About 63,000 cigarettes as well as 3kg of hand rolling tobacco were seized from three stores in Flint in a joint operation between Flintshire Council’s Trading Standards officers and North Wales Police.
The tobacco had been hidden away in a specially constructed shop counter which contained a hidden compartment with an electronically controlled sliding door.
Pepper had been liberally sprayed all over the products in an attempt to hide the tobacco from specialist sniffer dogs used to identify illicit goods.
Investigations in to the source of the cigarettes are ongoing.
Inspector Ceri Hawe from North Wales Police said: “We attended three premises in Flint to assist Flintshire Trading Standards in executing warrants. Significant quantities of illicit tobacco were recovered.
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Customs in EU seize mailed counterfeit goods
Customs signMore than 70,000 counterfeit products have been intercepted during a joint customs operation (JCO) in Europe codenamed ERMIS. JCO ERMIS was carried out by the Greek Customs Administration and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), and also involved customs experts from the EU as well as Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. The operation took place in March and focused on identifying fake goods shipped through postal and courier traffic.
EU customs authorities intensified control operations and exchanged intelligence on parcels coming in from third countries during the operation.
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Man charged after police sold counterfeit cigarettes
A man’s been charged after police were sold counterfeit cigarettes in Burgess Hill.
The plain clothed Officer carried out a test purchase operation on the 13th May at Burgess Hill Market in Church Walk, working in conjunction with West Sussex County Council Trading Standards Officers. and supported by the Burgess Hill Neighbourhood Policing Team.
27 year old Amir Asadi f Sultan Rd, London E11, was charged with two offences under the Trade Mark Act 1994 and will appear in Court on the 23rd July. Another member of staff accepted a police caution on 2 July.
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Bristol tobacco dealer’s freedom up in smoke after raids
A Bristol man has been jailed for eight months after council officers discovered an illegal stash of 750,000 cigarettes and 250kg of tobacco
A Bristol man has been jailed for eight months after council officers discovered an illegal stash of three quarters of a million cigarettes and quarter of a tonne of tobacco. Hardi Mohamed’s business Healthy Foods (Bristol) Ltd was raided by Bristol Trading Standards in June 2013. In shops and lock-ups based in Horfield, Fishponds and Redfield, they found 746,620 individual counterfeit cigarettes – the equivalent of more than 37,000 packets of 20 – and 250kg of hand rolling tobacco. Mr Mohamed was sentenced to prison and fined a total of £38,000, as well as being ordered to pay £23,620 in costs to Bristol City Council. Investigations into the supply chain are continuing.
Lear MoreTackling cheap illegal tobacco roadshow comes to Bath
The campaign to tackle cheap illegal tobacco across the South West is coming to Bath, on July 12.
Illegal tobacco is known to make it easier for children to start smoking, because it is sold at pocket money prices, meaning that young people could start smoking. Illegal tobacco is also known to make communities more attractive to criminals. This is why Bath & North East Somerset Council is working with Smokefree South West on a campaign to increase awareness about illegal tobacco among the general public, encouraging fewer people to buy it and more people to report it. Trained staff will be talking to the public at Sainsbury’s car park in Green Park, Bath, on July 12 to highlight the dangers of illegal tobacco. They will be joined by Cllr David Dixon and trading standards officers. Cllr David Dixon (Lib Dem, Oldfield), Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “Smoking is a serious public health issue and cheap illegal tobacco just makes it even harder to keep our children away from harm. That is why Bath & North East Somerset Council’s public health and trading standards teams are working together to help tackle the problem.
Lear MoreTobacco tax up in smoke
Police are making headway in dismantling the illicit cigarette smuggling syndicates costing the country millions of rands in lost revenue annually. According to SARS spokesperson Adrian Lackay, the 2012-13 financial year saw 2580 seizures of illicit cigarettes (138 million sticks, with a value of R63.4m), and 22 seizures of counterfeit cigarettes (666510 sticks, with a value of R467 860).
Lackay said they were aware that a significant number of illicit cigarettes were consumed in South Africa each year. “This loss occurs through the smuggling of cigarettes into the country from across our borders and the diversion into the local market of cigarettes that are earmarked for export.
“The prevalence of the trade in and consumption of illicit cigarettes in the South African market undermines the government’s efforts to reduce the negative health impacts of cigarette smoking ,” he said. Last week, police in Limpopo made a major breakthrough with the seizure of counterfeit cigarettes worth more than R3.5m at a village near the Beitbridge border post. These were seized in a separate incident and preliminary investigations linked the contraband cigarettes to having been smuggled from Zimbabwe.
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Stronger cross-border cooperation to combat smuggling
Over 70 thousand counterfeit goods were seized during a major Joint Customs Operation (JCO) code-named “ERMIS”. The Operation focused on postal and courier mail traffic, to identify fake products shipped through small consignments. Joint Customs Operation helped to avoid losses to the EU’s and the member states’ budgets in the form of evaded customs duties and taxes.
JCO ERMIS was carried-out by the Greek Customs Administration and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in March 2014; the operation also involved customs experts from the Commission, some member states, FYROM, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. The results of this operation were unveiled at a debriefing meeting in Athens and are published across Europe.
The mission of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is threefold: it protects the financial interests of the European Union by investigating fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities; it detects and investigates serious matters relating to the discharge of professional duties by members and staff of the EU institutions and bodies that could result in disciplinary or criminal proceedings; and it supports the EU institutions, in particular the European Commission, in the development and implementation of anti-fraud legislation and policies.
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/legislation/?doc=93728
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Armed thieves in Brazil steal Samsung tablets, phones
Samsung phone in pocketBrazil suffered one the largest electronics thefts in its history over the weekend when armed robbers raided a Samsung factory in São Paulo state. Around 20 thieves with automatic weapons raided the facility in Campinas during the evening of July 6, subduing some 200 workers and guards in a four-and-a-half-hour ordeal. The raiders kidnapped eight employees and used their identity documents to gain access to the plant. Two workers – both security staff – were held as hostages during the raid though thankfully no-one was injured.
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Amazon sued by retailer over counterfeit allegations
Amazon on iPad Amazon and Apple are facing a legal challenge from an electronics retailer accused of selling counterfeit goods. Hard 2 Find Accessories (H2FA) claims Amazon wrongly took down its product listings, at Apple’s request, causing it to lose more than $180,000 a month and effectively shutting its business down. It also says the allegations of trading in counterfeits amounts to defamation. Apple said that the products being sold were believed to be counterfeit because they were priced at a steep discount, while customer reviews suggested that they may not be genuine.
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