Destroying illicit goods cost Revenue more than €170,000.
The Revenue Commissioners has spent more than €170,000 shredding illegal cigarettes, destroying fake branded goods and getting rid of illicit alcohol over the past three years.
The costs are part of more than €2.8 million spent managing illegal goods that were seized during operations between 2016 and 2018.
Figures reveal how an average of €875,000 is spent by Revenue each year keeping the State Warehouse running. The warehouse is used to store illegal cigarettes and alcohol, along with other items, with €2.625 million spent on employee salaries, collection and transport of seized goods, security, cleaning and other costs.
Illegal alcohol is disposed of when a sufficient amount is available, usually between 15 and 20,000 litres, according to the Revenue Commissioners.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/destroying-illicit-goods-cost-revenue-more-than-170-000-v9hnmrdfk
Lear MoreTwo Sri Lankan women caught smuggling gold worth over Rs 30 lakh at Pune airport.
Customs officials on Thursday caught two Sri Lankan women, for allegedly Smuggling gold worth around Rs 30 lakh, at the Pune airport.
According to police, the duo arrived from Singapore by Jet airways and walked through the Green channel without declaring anything to the Customs.
After noticing suspicious movement, Customs officials interrogated them and it was found that they were carrying 24-carat gold in the form of chain, bangles and biscuits, weighing 914.25 gm.
The jewellery worth around Rs 30,31,937 has been seized on the suspicion of being smuggled, an official statement read.
Lear MoreTwo Sri Lankan women caught smuggling gold worth over Rs 30 lakh at Pune airport.
Customs officials on Thursday caught two Sri Lankan women, for allegedly smuggling gold worth around Rs 30 lakh, at the Pune airport. According to police, the duo arrived from Singapore by Jet Airways and walked through the Green channel without declaring anything to the Customs. After noticing suspicious movement, Customs officials interrogated them and it was found that they were carrying 24-carat gold in the form of chain, bangles and biscuits, weighing 914.25 gm. The jewellery worth around Rs 30,31,937 has been seized on the suspicion of being smuggled, an official statement read.
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EPA, Customs Seize More than 10,000 Illegal Items at SoCal Ports.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday enforcement actions involving $530,199 in fines and over 10,000 engines and vehicles imported into the United States. These actions are the result of on-going joint operations between EPA and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to identify foreign-made engines and vehicles that lack proper emission controls, including ATVs, motorcycles, and construction equipment. “Oversight of foreign-made engines imported through southern California ports is a priority,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Mike Stoker. “The enforcement cases announced (Tuesday) prevented hundreds of thousands of pounds of harmful air pollutants from being emitted into our air. We will continue to look work with CBP to ensure that items coming into the U.S. meet federal emissions requirements.” Under the joint initiative, EPA found companies imported engines and vehicles without certification or proper emissions controls. Engines operating without adequate controls emit excess carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides, which can cause respiratory illnesses, aggravate asthma, and lead to the formation of ground level ozone. Particular cases involved the following companies:
https://scvnews.com/2019/03/14/epa-customs-seize-more-than-10000-illegal-items-at-socal-ports/
Lear MoreBengaluru: Gold worth Rs 37 lakh smuggled in door locks, underware.
BENGALURU: Gold smugglers often adopt innovative ways to deceive customs sleuths at Kempegowda International Airport. On Tuesday, two attempts to smuggle in 1.1kg of gold worth over lakh — one where the yellow metal was crafted as components of door locks and the other where it was carried in paste form inside a passenger’s underwear — were foiled at KIA.
Sources with the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Bangalore customs said their team carried out profiling of passengers who disembarked from Gulf Air flight GF 282 (Bahrain to Bengaluru) that landed at KIA at 3.55am.
Following suspicion, customs officials intercepted a male passenger who was later identified as a 50-year-old from Uttar Pradesh. He had travelled from Saudi Arabia. After questioning him, the team inspected his check-in luggage to find door locks. On dismantling them, they found six gold biscuits worth Rs 18. 7 lakh. The suspect carried the gold inside the locks, assuming customs officials would clear them as hardware items as some components were painted in golden colour.
Lear MoreBengaluru: Gold worth Rs 37 lakh smuggled in door locks, underware.
BENGALURU: Gold smugglers often adopt innovative ways to deceive customs sleuths at Kempegowda International Airport. On Tuesday, two attempts to smuggle in 1.1kg of gold worth over lakh — one where the yellow metal was crafted as components of door locks and the other where it was carried in paste form inside a passenger’s underwear — were foiled at KIA. Sources with the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Bangalore customs said their team carried out profiling of passengers who disembarked from Gulf Air flight GF 282 (Bahrain to Bengaluru) that landed at KIA at 3.55am. Following suspicion, customs officials intercepted a male passenger who was later identified as a 50-year-old from Uttar Pradesh. He had travelled from Saudi Arabia. After questioning him, the team inspected his check-in luggage to find door locks. On dismantling them, they found six gold biscuits worth Rs 18. 7 lakh. The suspect carried the gold inside the locks, assuming customs officials would clear them as hardware items as some components were painted in golden colour.
Lear MoreIndia: towards greater accountability of intermediaries?
Indian authorities are considering amending the Information Technology Act 2000. Article 79 deals with the exemption of intermediaries from liability, imposing on them an obligation of diligence as to the lawfulness of the contents. In the course of 2018, the government informed the elected officials of its determination to modify the legal framework in the sense of greater accountability of intermediaries.
These rules, called Information Technology Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment) Rules, 2018, would require intermediaries with more than 5 million users in India to have a registered subsidiary in India. It goes without saying that this provision is intended to facilitate the liability of the intermediary.
The bill also aims to require intermediaries to prohibit their users from publishing content or promoting products that are hazardous to health, specifically targeting tobacco, alcohol, and cosmetics. Furthermore, the platforms themselves would have the obligation to deploy automated tools to proactively identify and delete or disable illegal content.
Finally, among the new provisions envisaged, it is also necessary to note the requirement, formulated by the Indian Government, of greater cooperation in the suppression of the illicit contents and the identification of the authors of such contents.
https://www.iptwins.com/en/2019/02/27/india-towards-greater-accountability-of-intermediaries/
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Three men arrested, smuggled cigarettes, tobacco worth RM1.8m seized.
Police arrested three men and seized smuggled cigarettes and tobacco, worth RM1.8 million, in an operation at Seri Kembangan here last Thursday.
Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, in a statement today, said the suspects were aged between 38 and 50.
The seized items comprised 190 boxes of cigarettes with the brand name, League, and 40 boxes of raw tobacco, each weighing 22kg, on which tax had not been paid, he said.
He said the police also seized two lorries and a Toyota Hilux during the operation.
Acryl Sani said the contraband was believed to have been smuggled from a neighbouring country by land for markets in the Klang Valley and southern part of the peninsula. — Bernama
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Three men arrested, smuggled cigarettes, tobacco worth RM1.8m seized.
Police arrested three men and seized smuggled cigarettes and tobacco, worth RM1.8 million, in an operation at Seri Kembangan here last Thursday. Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, in a statement today, said the suspects were aged between 38 and 50. The seized items comprised 190 boxes of cigarettes with the brand name, League, and 40 boxes of raw tobacco, each weighing 22kg, on which tax had not been paid, he said. He said the police also seized two lorries and a Toyota Hilux during the operation. Acryl Sani said the contraband was believed to have been smuggled from a neighbouring country by land for markets in the Klang Valley and southern part of the peninsula. — Bernama
Lear MoreMan jailed for trying to smuggle millions of cigarettes into Australia.
A Malaysian man has been sentenced to five years in prison for an attempt to smuggle more than six million cigarettes into Australia, in alleged duty evasion of more than $4 million. Australian Border Force said the cigarettes, which originated from Malaysia, were concealed within sophisticated cover loads. The smugglers were caught on 10 August 2017, when three Malaysian nationals were found in two factories unpacking the tobacco. All three were subsequently arrested and charged under the Customs Act 1901, with possession of tobacco products, knowing that the goods were imported with the intention of defrauding revenue. They were convicted and sentenced to between 16–24 months imprisonment for their involvement in the importations.
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