SFO plays key role in seizing counterfeit products
Airport also plays role in designer drugs
From fake Viagra pills to knockoff sunglasses, sports jerseys and cellphone accessories, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Supervisor Jeffrey Meleg said the battle to keep counterfeit goods from landing on U.S. soil is relentless. “It’s a cat-and-mouse game,” he said. “It comes in constantly. It never stops.” Meleg led KCRA 3 on a rare tour of the CBP’s postal inspection facility at San Francisco’s airport. CBP is responsible for inspecting U.S. mail arriving from abroad that is being carried by passenger planes. “We inspect about a million a month,” Meleg said.
http://world.einnews.com/article/203395413/-2BjCH41LlYl3dDV?n=1&code=AgcfkaVftQFfz4kH
Lear MoreNew task force set up to combat counterfeit cigarettes
A NEW task force has been set up to tackle the problem of counterfeit and illegally smuggled cigarettes on the streets of Notts. The county council has invested £91,000 of its public health funding into the initiative, which will pay for investigations to cut down on the supply and use of illegal tobacco products. The team has already carried out its first raids in nine shops across Sutton-in-Ashfield, Hucknall, Mansfield, Stapleford and Netherfield, and two houses in Gedling. They uncovered around 90,000 counterfeit cigarettes and 20kg of illegal tobacco with an estimated street value of £40,000.
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Confidence Reigns, Counterfeit Consumer Electronics Continue to Fool Consumers
Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, will unveil today the results of a 2013 Anti-Counterfeit Study it commissioned on U.S. consumers’ attitudes and perceptions of counterfeit consumer electronics in the U.S.(1) The study reveals that while counterfeit consumer electronics are a significant concern to U.S. consumers, most seem to be unaware of the full impact and risks of their purchase and use. The study revealed that consumers trust their instincts, but seem to lack the understanding of the possible safety risks and the true long-term costs of counterfeit consumer electronics.
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Department of Revenue reports on cigarette enforcement
Department of Revenue reports on cigarette enforcement activities
Since July 1, 2013, the Minnesota Department of Revenue has completed over 1,000 inspections of retailers to ensure they are selling only state-stamped cigarettes. The department has worked with law enforcement agencies in numerous seizures of unstamped cigarettes. State stamps on cigarettes are proof that the seller paid Minnesota’s cigarette taxes.
The increase in cigarette and tobacco taxes that took effect July 1, 2013, reflects the state’s commitment to emphasize a healthy community and reduce the number of young people using tobacco. The cigarette tax increase will also help cover the long-term public health costs associated with tobacco use.
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Businessmen charged with selling counterfeit drugs
A suburban New York pharmaceutical company sold more than $17 million in counterfeit, misbranded or unapproved drugs, including for cancer and birth control, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday against the two men in charge of the business.
Great Neck-based Pharmalogical, Inc.’s William Scully, 45, of Commack, and Shahrad Rodi Lameh, 40, of Manhasset, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Central Islip. Bond was set for each at $500,000.
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Illegal tobacco ring dismantled
Illegal tobacco ring dismantled, Police say
28 arrests and $7 million in contraband seized; ring linked to Mafia, aboriginal organized crime
Police forces on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border have dealt a major blow to an illegal tobacco ring that they say was linked to the Mafia and aboriginal organized crime. Officials from the Sûreté du Québec, the Canada Border Services Agency, the RCMP and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were on hand Wednesday as 400 officers fanned out in Montreal and the surrounding regions and began raiding dozens of properties. Among the locations targeted just before dawn were homes in St-Léonard and Valleyfield and a strip club in Dundee, near the border. In all, $7 million worth of contraband was seized and 28 people arrested. Police are still searching for seven people linked to the criminal ring, which allegedly involved close collaboration between the Mafia and aboriginal organized crime. Residents of Kahnawake said it was the first time they’d heard police refer to “aboriginal organized crime” and said the raids will affect many members of their community who depend on the cigarette industry to make an honest living.
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In brief: Record fake cosmetics seizure in Dubai
The authorities in Dubai have seized 1.4m counterfeit cosmetics and personal care products with an estimated market value of AED 16m ($4.4m).
The goods were seized by police and the Department of Economic Development (DED), according to a report in Gulf Today, which said the record haul included shampoos, soaps and skin creams, amongst other products.
Enforcement officers uncovered the counterfeits at a manufacturing facility and attached warehouse in a desert area of Dubai and have taken the owner of the site into custody.
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Vision Puts a Stop to Counterfeit Drugs
In 2011, the European Union defined a number of measures in its Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) to prevent counterfeit or fake medicines from entering the legal supply chain in Europe. One of these measures specifies that pharmaceutical manufacturers will be required to print an obligatory feature on the outer packaging of drugs in order that the authenticity of the package can be uniquely verified.
http://www.novuslight.com/vision-puts-a-stop-to-counterfeit-drugs_N2630.html
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Beating the brandjackers: book launch
A new book that provides practical advice to businesses at risk of online attacks such as ‘cybersquatting’ has been published. Countering Brandjacking in the Digital Age is authored by Simeon Keates, professor in engineering at Greenwich University in the UK, and Christopher Hofman of the European Domain Centre (EDC), a registrar specialising in protecting business domain names.
The 87-page book draws on examples of best practice in the fields of risk management, interaction design and engineering design, and contains ‘real-world’ examples and interviews with a number of brand-owning organisations ranging from small companies to large multinationals.
Lear MoreSmuggling contraband into P.E.I. jail draws federal prison sentence
A 25-year-old Charlottetown man who smuggled drugs, tobacco, rolling papers and even a cigarette lighter into jail in his rectum is headed for prison. Murray James Todd was sentenced to two years in a federal correctional facility Wednesday for possession of drugs for the purposes of trafficking. He was sentenced to a further six months, consecutive to the first sentence, for trafficking in Hydromorphone. The first charge stems from an incident that began when police were dispatched to the parking lot of the Atlantic Superstore where Todd was observed drinking alcohol, holding a pipe used for smoking drugs and shouting.
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