Increase in Cigarettes smuggling
Islamabad: As cigarettes are highly taxed in Pakistan because of their harmful effects on public health, the government is losing billions in revenues that it could otherwise collect on legal import and sale of tobacco products. According to insiders, 200 truckloads of smuggled goods including cigarettes enter the country every day from across the Afghan border. They blame government agencies and customs officials for lack of a strict check and allege the activity goes on with the connivance of some of them. Industry sources confide that almost Rs 50, 000 are given to Afghan and Pakistani officials as bribe for clearing a single consignment. Estimates suggest that Rs18 billion worth of cigarettes is smuggled into the country every year, besides tea worth Rs16 billion, petroleum products valuing Rs22 billion including smuggled LPG, auto parts and vehicles valuing Rs25 billion and other products of over Rs200 billion including cosmetics, clothing, footwear, medicines, spices, juices, electronics, etc. The government is facing the huge loss of revenue apparently in the absence of concrete steps to stem the illegal trade.
http://arynews.tv/en/increase-cigarettes-smuggling/
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Asia-11 study: Pakistan, along with Vietnam, top consumer of illicit cigarettes
KARACHI: Despite all the efforts put in by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), illicit cigarettes still account for one-fourth of the country’s total cigarette consumption, costing the exchequer more than a quarter of a billion dollars in tax losses, according to an international study. In 2012, illicit tobacco trade was 25.4% of the total cigarettes consumed in Pakistan, according to Asia-11: Illicit Tobacco Indicator 2012, an international study compiled by the International Tax and Investment Centre and Oxford Economics.
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Tobacco smuggling gobbles up sales tax revenue
That tobacco products are being smuggled into the country, evading the 100 percent sales tax, is evident from the decrease in sales tax revenue collected at the regional customs office in Phuentsholing. As the busiest border town, most tobacco products enter the country through Phuentsholing. There is no dearth of tobacco products, especially cigarettes and chewing tobacco, but the regional revenue and customs office collected only Nu 234,502 in sales tax in 2013. The year before, they collected Nu 275,506. Incidents of tobacco confiscation, however, have increased in 2013, going by police records.
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Palau Quarantine Officer To Serve Jail Time For Illegal Cigarette Smuggling
A quarantine officer from Palau national government is set to serve two years in jail for his involvement in an illegal cigarette smuggling scheme. On January 16, 2014, Jeff Tewid pled guilty to three counts of bribery and one count of misconduct in public office. According to information from the Attorney General’s Office, Tewid accepted bribes, and demanded bribes from a local hotel to allow a container to bypass the quarantine and customs process. In addition to his two-year jail sentence, Tewid through the terms of his plea agreement is also ordered to pay $45,000 dollars in fines. Furthermore, he is prohibited from seeking any employment from the Republic of Palau, all 16 states, government departments, agencies or boards for 10 years. The AG’s office expressed that the plea came as a direct result of a long and thorough investigation by Palau’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
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Poll on mind, Cabinet set to ratify sops
The Cabinet meeting scheduled for Monday seems to have a definite agenda. With the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the Council of Ministers is expected to announce a series of tax concessions. The Cabinet will discuss the withdrawal of one-time tax on city buses operating in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Bathinda; withdrawal of sin tax on cigarettes and slashing VAT on iron and steel goods, scrap and finished goods. All these decisions are aimed at wooing the urban voters. The SAD-BJP Government feels that these people have weaned away from them because of imposition of property tax and advance tax. Sources said there was a proposal to waive one-time tax on buses operating in cities, amounting to Rs 500 per bus. This tax is paid to the Transport Department before the buses are commissioned. These buses have been commissioned under the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and the government proposes to waive this tax so as to make travel cheaper.
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MMEA foiled smuggling of cigarettes worth RM1m last year
PORT KLANG: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) foiled the smuggling of 3,264,800 cigarettes last year. The haul, worth about RM1 million, was seized through numerous enforcement operations within Selangor and Johor waters. MMEA southern region enforcement chief First Admiral Adon Shalan said the tobacco products were discovered without proper tax stamps. “The increasing demand for cheap cigarettes at roughly RM6 per box has become a factor in the increase of such illicit trade activities,” he said during a press conference after the disposal of the smuggled cigarettes at the MMEA office, here. He added that many of the smugglers were also equipped with four-cylinder boats while MMEA was only utilising two-cylinder boats. Nevertheless, he said the agency would increase its efforts and cooperation with other agencies to trace such illegal activities. He revealed that the agency would increase the number of officers involved in enforcement patrols from 700 to 1,100 this year.
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Man ordered to pay for smuggling tobacco
A Nottingham man has been sentenced for evading close to £21,000 in excise duty, after smuggling 100kg of hand-rolling tobacco into Portsmouth Ferry Port. He was ordered to repay the duty within six months – or face 15 months in prison and still owe the money. Paul Adlington concealed the tobacco within internal panelling of his Ford Transit van. He was arrested by Border Force officers at the city’s continental ferry port in August, and pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday 10 January. “It is important that we pursue criminals’ profits through the courts and recover money for UK taxpayers. This type of crime not only undermines legitimate retailers who have to compete with illegal imports, but also costs the UK economy around £2billion a year. People with information about tobacco smuggling should contact the Customs’ Hotline on 0800 59 5000.”
http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/story/2014-01-14/man-fined-thousands-for-smuggling-tobacco/
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UK spirits verification scheme comes into force
A new scheme to protect regional alcoholic specialties from counterfeit and substandard competition has been launched in the UK. The Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme (SDVS) is designed to help consumers in the UK and abroad identify genuine Scotch whisky and other spirits of UK origin and avoid buying illicit products that could damage their health. The system – which has been in gestation for some time – was officially launched on January 10 by Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander.
Lear More$100,000 in counterfeit clothing seized in raid on Fruit Belt market
Police raided a Fruit Belt food store Monday, thinking they would find illegal guns. They found some weapons, but police said they also found something else – more than $100,000 in counterfeit trademark clothing. Hats, sneakers, jackets, belts and other apparel were seized along with $25,000 in cash believed to be profits from sales of the bootleg clothing. The clothing had fake labels from Air Jordan, Champion, Coach, the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. There were more than 1,000 New York Yankees baseball hats alone amid the boxes of clothing filling the warehouse, police said.
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‘Counterfeit: Don’t buy into organized crime’ – UNODC launches new outreach campaign on $250 billion a year counterfeit business
A new global campaign has been launched by UNODC to raise awareness among consumers of the $250 billion a year illicit trafficking of counterfeit goods. The campaign – ‘Counterfeit: Don’t buy into organized crime’ – informs consumers that buying counterfeit goods could be funding organized criminal groups, puts consumer health and safety at risk and contributes to other ethical and environmental concerns. The campaign is centred around a new Public Service Announcement which was launched on the NASDAQ screen in New York’s Times Square and is being aired on several international television stations starting this month. The campaign urges consumers to ‘look behind’ counterfeit goods to boost understanding of the serious repercussions of this illicit trade.
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