16 detained in gold smuggling case
Customs authorities have detained 16 people in east China’s Fujian Province in connection to a gold smuggling case worth about 820 million yuan (about 116 million U.S. dollars).
The gang illegally exported about three tonnes of gold and related products, according to the administration of customs in Fuzhou, the provincial capital.
Since February 2017, the gang members purchased a large amount of gold in several localities and assembled the gold into audio decoders. After transporting the decoders to Hong Kong, the members dissembled the gold from the decoders and sold it to gold purchasing companies in Hong Kong.
The gang members are also suspected of illegally collecting export tax rebates worth about 120 million yuan.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-05/11/c_139047171.htm
Lear MoreOfficials tighten vigil against liquor smuggling in kerala
KOCHI: Excise and police departments, which have been fighting illicit liquor rackets during the lockdown, now have a new problem to handle as there has been an inflow of liquor from the neighbouring states forcing them to increase checking and surveillance in the district.
The possibility aroused after Centre allowed opening of liquor outlets but the state delayed opening of outlets even as the neighbouring states went ahead with opening of the outlets immediately. Officers said that liquor purchased in bulk from these states were being sold at exorbitant prices in the district.
Lear MoreCrime Branch busts cigarette, tobacco smuggling racket
Where there is prohibition, black marketing rackets are inevitable. The Mumbai Police Crime Branch has busted a racket where tobacco, cigarettes and paan masala were being smuggled in vehicles that had government permission to transport fruits and vegetables.
According to Crime Branch officials, the lid was blown off the racket after police inspector Sunil Mane, in charge of Unit X, received a tip-off. A Unit X team visited Gajanan Colony in Shivaji Nagar, Govandi on Thursday and searched the area covertly till they located the Tata S Model tempo the informant had specified.
“The tempo had a sticker issued by the government, which permitted it to ply during the lockdown. The sticker said it had permission to transport fruits and vegetables. We spotted two men near the tempo who tried to sneak out as soon as the saw us inspecting it,” a Unit X officer said.
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More counterfeit COVID-19 tests seized in US
Customs and Border Protection officers seized counterfeit COVID-19 test kits at Rochester airport in New York during the inspection of express-consignment shipments.
This is the latest in several shipments that have contained counterfeit test kits that have not been approved by the FDA, according to CBP. There were 25 kits in the latest shipment, but since March officers at Rochester airport have seized more than 600 fake COVID-19 tests.
The FDA has issued emergency use authorisation (EUA) to about 50 companies that are allowed to develop and distribute COVID-19 test kits. However, the companies that created the test kits in these shipments have not been approved to sell them in the US.
In Cincinnati, CBP officers have made 62 seizures, a total of 29,438 kits, with 52 shipments still awaiting FDA review. These kits had a domestic value of $588,760. These seizures contained counterfeit kits, as well as unapproved and prohibited test kits. Some of the larger seizures were seizures of 5,000 kits and then three other seizures of 2,000 kits a piece.
Lear MoreOver 8 million smuggled cigarettes seized on their way into Ireland behind ‘frozen chicken’
Revenue officers seized 8.4 million cigarettes at Dublin Port on Wednesday as a result of ongoing intelligence led operations.
The smuggled cigarettes were concealed behind pallets of frozen chicken in a refrigerated shipping container that arrived aboard a vessel from Rotterdam.
The ‘illicit white’ cigarettes, branded ‘RICHMOND’, have an estimated value of over €4.1 million, representing a loss to the exchequer of €3.51 million.
Investigations are ongoing. This seizure is part of Revenue’s ongoing operations targeting the shadow economy and the supply and sale of illegal tobacco products.
Lear MoreDelhi smugglers exploit dry lockdown: Illicit booze biz booms on high demand
On May 1, the Delhi Police arrested two men in Dwarka for smuggling hundreds of bottles of liquor in a vehicle laden with cucumber. On April 16, two men were caught transporting 25 boxes of illicit liquor in an ambulance in Chhawla. On April 5, a man was held near South Avenue Road with liquor bottles hidden inside milk containers. All these men had UP and Haryana connections.
The Delhi government is set to open at least 400 standalone liquor shops in non-hotspot areas on Monday when the third phase of the nationwide lockdown begins for two more weeks.
But the challenge also remains to crack down against inter-state smugglers and city bootleggers spreading their network and exploiting demands that have been spiralling amid Covid-19 curbs.
On Saturday, Delhi’s Excise Department asked four government agencies to immediately submit a list of liquor shops which conform to the Union Home Ministry’s relaxation criteria for the next phase of the lockdown allowing some non-essential standalone outlets to open.
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Customs foils bid to smuggle in nine million sticks of cigarettes
The Royal Malaysian Customs Department thwarted an attempt to smuggle in nine million sticks of white cigarettes worth RM720,000, which carried taxes of RM5.7 million, at the North Port of Port Klang yesterday.
Its assistant director-general Datuk Zulkurnain Mohamed Yusuf said acting on a tip-off and surveillance, a team of enforcement officers from Central Zone Unit II (Selangor) went to the port at 12.30pm and checked a 40 sq ft container declared as containing floor mats and bath towels.
“From the inspection, an amount of white cigarettes were found hidden behind sacks of goods which were declared to deceive the Customs authorities,” he said in a statement here today.
Zulkurnain said the modus operandi of the importer or agent was to place the big gunny sacks containing floor mats in the front of the container to hide the boxes of white cigarettes at the back portion, in a bid to evade detection by the authorities.
https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/customs-foils-bid-smuggle-nine-million-sticks-cigarettes
Lear MoreOne arrested, two booked for smuggling liquor in Covid-19 hotspots
A man in his thirties was arrested and two others booked by the Phase 2 police in two separate incidents of smuggling imported alcohol. Two cars were also recovered and have been seized.
According to police, a Maruti Ertiga was stopped and checked near sector 93A during routine checking in hotspot zones of the district on Sunday evening. The driver was carrying three bottles of imported scotch, above the permissible limit for
The sale of liquor is banned in the state during the ongoing lockdown. As per rules, the permissible liquor limit for people in Uttar Pradesh is 1.5 litres IMFL, 1.5 litres country-made liquor and four bottles of beer.
“When questioned, he confessed that he was taking the liquor for a resident of Eldeco Utopia in Sector 93A, which is a hot spot in red zone and is sealed. After a while he got spooked and ran away, leaving the car and the liquor. The house of the man who had ordered the liquor was also searched but the suspect was nowhere to be found,” said Farmood Ali Pundir, station house offier, Phase 2 police station.
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Meghalaya: Government vehicle caught while smuggling illicit liquor during lockdown
In a major embarrassment for the establishment, South West Garo Hills police apprehended a government vehicle while it was illegally ferrying illicit country made liquor on Friday night (April 24).
The vehicle, belonging to the agriculture department in Tura, also had a car pass for the current lockdown making the act even more amplified in terms of impact.
As per information from SWGH police, the vehicle had 4 people travelling within with all of them being later released on a PR bond. Among the detainees, only the driver of the vehicle was an employee of the Agriculture department posted in Tura in West Garo Hills.
The liquor, locally known as ‘poteka’ or local moonshine is made from jaggery and was being ferried in the truck when it was stopped. The vehicle was allegedly being misused by the people involved, who were supplying and selling the drink to people in and around Tura.
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Gang involved in smuggling liquor busted
The Jalandhar Police Commissionerate on Thursday busted a gang involved in smuggling illicit liquor in the city amid lockdown. The police arrested three persons and recovered 316 cartons of liquor bottles of various brands.
The Commissioner of Police, Jalandhar, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said the police got a tip-off that Rajinder Kumar of Makhdoompura was supplying liquor in the city during the curfew imposed due to Covid-19, for which he had set up a godown at Raj Nagar.
To ensure that no one gets skeptical of this illegal business, Raju kept tenants at the godown, from where the liquor was supplied in a four- wheeler (PB-08 CH 9646).
Bhullar said a team of CIA Staff-1 raided the godown and arrested three suspects, identified as Amit Kumar, alias Ajay, Ankit and Ram Sewak, with 316 cartons of illicit liquor.
The CP further said Amit Kumar was a native of Visholi village in Unnao district of UP; Ankit of Chantpur village in Bihar; and Ram Sewak of Khera village in Unnao district of UP. They were Rajinder’s tenants and were involved in illegally supplying liquor during the lockdown. A case was registered.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jalandhar/gang-involved-in-smuggling-liquor-busted-75196
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