Man faces 20 years in prison in counterfeit computer chip scheme
MILWAUKEE (WITI) — Thinking about buying any parts for your computer? FOX6′s Contact 6 says beware — those parts could be fake! “He would purchase the chips for about $2.00 a piece in China and sell them in the U.S. for several hundred dollars,” U.S. Postal Inspector Alex Sylvester said.
Ronald Graban, the mastermind in this scheme, realized he could make a very healthy profit. “He had inside information on exact serial numbers that Cisco and Nortel use. So, when he requested labels from China, they would put those exact numbers on there to try and hide they were counterfeit chips,” Sylvester said. Graban would then sell them to a third-party retailer. “It was reported to be a refurbished Cisco and Nortel product but in fact it wasn`t. It was a counterfeit product from China,” Sylvester said.
http://fox6now.com/2014/04/06/man-faces-20-years-in-prison-in-counterfeit-computer-chip-scheme/
Lear MoreTobacco smuggling Gibraltar border row
The difference in the price of tobacco is fuelling an illegal trade of smuggling from Gibraltar to Spain that appears to be increasing rapidly. Spanish police have attempted to crack down on the smugglers, leading to long traffic jams on the border and rising tensions between the two nations.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26880182
Lear MoreTobacco manufacturers told, internal law won’t stop Bill C-10 By Donna Duric, Writer
Six Nations Band Council has no concrete plan to fight the impending Bill C-10. With Elected Chief Ava Hill at the helm of a community meeting on the impending Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act (Bill C-10) last week, she called on the community to help them come up with strategies to fight the bill as it continues to wind its way through parliament. The bill aims to amend the Criminal Code to make trafficking in “contraband” tobacco an offence punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. It has already passed second reading in the House of Commons. About 60 community members, including local tobacco manufacturers, attended the meeting at Polytech last Wednesday night. But before the public meeting got underway, moderator Sandy Porter asked the audience if they wanted the media (The Turtle Island News was the only media present) to leave before the strategy session got under way. No one in the audience agreed with the suggestion. Elected Chief Hill explained parliamentary processes, saying she expects the bill to pass through the Senate and become law before parliament breaks for the summer recess in late June.
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Illegally imported tobacco impounded
HCM CITY (VNS)— Over 15,800 packets of smuggled tobacco were seized on Tuesday in an operation by the HCM City Market Watch Department to prevent smuggled tobacco from being traded in the city. The city’s operation is part of an ongoing nationwide campaign against tobacco smugglers held between April 1 and June 30, which was launched by the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Market Surveillance Agency on Tuesday. The move follows the Government’s directives on fighting cigarette smuggling to protect the domestic producers and local employees, and to ensure revenue for the State budget and social security. Typically, the Market Watch Team 3B, which checked tobacco trading in District 3′ s Ward 8, confiscated more than 1,800 packets of smuggled tobacco, whereas the Tan Phu Market Watch Team, which checked the trading in Tan Phu District’s Tay Thanh Ward, seized more than 6,000 packets of smuggled tobacco of different kinds.
http://vietnamnews.vn/society/253188/illegally-imported-tobacco-impounded.html
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Customs hauls in massive haul of illicit cigarettes and molasses tobacco
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) has seized 300,000 illicit cigarettes and 1,866 kilograms of illicit molasses tobacco in Melbourne. On Monday 24 March, ACBPS officers at the Melbourne Container Examination Facility referred the shipment for further examination, when an x-ray of its contents revealed anomalies. During the examination, approximately 100 cardboard boxes containing illicit cigarettes and tobacco were identified amongst boxes of household goods including blankets, plasticware and ornaments. ACBPS national manager cargo operations Jagtej Singh said the potential revenue evasion of this seizure is estimated to be over one million dollars. “Tobacco is considered illicit or illegal if it is not declared at the border and does not have the appropriate duty paid,” Mr Singh said. “Customs and Border Protection takes the importation of illicit cigarettes and tobacco very seriously as it denies the Commonwealth of legitimate revenue in an attempt to evade tax. “We are committed to combating tobacco smuggling through whole-of-agency activity in collaboration with government, industry and international partners.” During 2012-13, Customs and Border Protection made 76 seizures of smuggled tobacco products in sea cargo, consisting of 183 tonnes of tobacco and 200 million cigarettes, representing a potential duty evasion of $151 million. The maximum penalty for tobacco smuggling is a fine of up to five times the amount of duty evaded or 10 years gaol time.
Lear MoreLargest illegal tobacco haul in Lewisham
A Lewisham retailer has been found with over £100,000 worth of illegal tobacco – believed to be the biggest find by Trading Standards in the country.
On Saturday 22 March, a Lee High Road retailer was searched by Lewisham Council’s Trading Standards officers finding 600kg of illegal Chinese hand rolling tobacco, with a potential street value of over £100,000. The manager of the shop stated the premises did not sell or stock cigarettes. However, officers from Lewisham Council, with the help of a tobacco detection dog called Jack, sniffed out the substantial find in the shop and store room. The owner of the shop is now under investigation. In the same week, officers also seized 10,000 Chinese cigarettes and counterfeit hand rolling tobacco in Deptford, and 15,000 Russian cigarettes in Lee Green. Trading Standards are also investigating this further. Lewisham Council, the police and HM Customs, carry out targeted raids on premises considered to be selling illegal tobacco. Any proprietor found to stock or sell these will be liable to prosecution. Illegal tobacco can be reported anonymously by calling the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0845 404 0506.
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Africa loses $60bn annually through illicit financial flows – Mbeki
A former South African President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, on Sunday in Abuja said African countries lose between 50 billion dollars and 60 billion dollars annually through illicit financial flows (IFF). Mbeki said this while presenting the Progress Report of the High-Level Panel on IFF at the ongoing 7th AU-ECA Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance. Mbeki was the Chairman of the panel set up by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in 2012 to look into the nature of illicit funds in the continent. He said the huge sums did not include capital flight, saying it came from proceeds of commercial transactions through multinational companies, criminal activities and corruption.
The former South African president lamented that the monies which would have been used to provide infrastructure and social amenities for the poor African population were transferred to other countries. “Consequently, this left the continent in poverty,’’ he added. Mbeki said the situation was occasioned by the weakened tax regime of some countries in the continent, adding that proper mechanism needed to be put in place to check the trend. “In terms of the phenomenon of mis-pricing, the estimates are between 50 and 60 billion dollars which the continent loses as illicit financial flows, with capital flight not included.
Lear MoreDid IAF’s ‘US-made’ C-130J Super Hercules that crashed have fake Chinese parts?
India has plans to buys six more C-130J Super Hercules to augment its transport fleet.
WASHINGTON: India’s newly-acquired American C-130J Super Hercules plane that crashed last week near Gwalior has been under intense scrutiny in the United States and Canada after a Senate investigation concluded that counterfeit parts in the aircraft’s display systems could cause it to “lose data or even go blank altogether” in midflight, with potentially catastrophic consequences.
A 2011-2012 investigation by the US Senate armed services committee eventually traced the counterfeit electronic parts used in the C-130J, C-27J, and many other US military systems to a company in Shenzhen, China, called Hong Dark Electronic Trade Company. Hong Dark sold the parts at issue to Global IC Trading Group, an independent distributor in the US, which in turn sold it to L-3 Communications Display Systems, which in turn supplied it to Lockheed Martin, the US military’s prime contractor for the C-130J.
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9 most counterfeited products in the USA
Counterfeit products may cost the global economy up to $250 billion a year, according to estimates from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Millions of those shipments enter the United States. While government agencies do their best to crack down on counterfeit goods, they only manage to catch a fraction of the fake products that enter the United States. Still, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) values that seized fraction at staggering amounts. The value of counterfeit goods seized rose by 38.1% in 2013, from $1.2 billion in 2012 to $1.7 billion last year.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/29/24-7-wall-st-counterfeited-products/7023233/
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Interpol Course to Fight Counterfeit Goods Ends in Kigali
Police officers from seven Eastern and Southern African countries, on March 27, completed a tactical course in Kigali to lay stringent measures against counterfeit and smuggled products. Forty-four officers from Botswana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia Zambia and Rwanda, took part in the three-day exercise.The Interpol exercise dubbed “Operation Wipeout” to be conducted in the seven countries will target fuel, beverages, cigarettes, foodstuff and home-care products.
Other products include pesticides, mobile phones, their accessories, electrical products and electronics. Commissioner of Police (CP), Emmanuel Butera, the Commissioner for Operations, while closing the training thanked Interpol for the initiative to fight illicit and smuggled products in the region, which pose threat to the economy and consumers’ health.He observed organised criminal networks use profits from trafficking and selling illicit goods to fund criminal activities such as drug and human trafficking and terrorism.
http://en.igihe.com/news/interpol-course-to-fight-counterfeit-goods-ends.html
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