Fake cosmetics worth Dh1m seized in Dubai Police raid.
25, November 2018 l Gulf News
Dubai: Thousands of counterfeit cosmetic products valued at Dh1 million have been seized in Dubai, a police official said.
Colonel Omar Mohammad Bin Hammad, deputy director of the Anti-Economic Crime Department, said the products were seized during a raid on a warehouse in Bur Dubai.
“We received information about a warehouse with fake products. We raided the place and found 220,000 fake cosmetic products and make-up [kits] carrying famous brands’ logos. [The seized products were] worth Dh1 million,” Col Bin Hammad said. An Arab national running the warehouse was arrested.
“The warehouse was raided just before the products were to be distributed in local markets,” Col Bin hamad said. The seized products included different types of lip stick, nail polish and powder.
Colonel Bin Hamad said that people selling fake products are increasingly hawking their wares on social media, rather than on the streets.
https://gulfnews.com/uae/crime/fake-cosmetics-worth-dh1m-seized-in-dubai-police-raid-1.60319248
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Experts stress on 3 C’s to fight illicit trade.
22, November 2018 l SME Times
Experts participating at an FICCI CASCADE training programme viewed that there is a need to create communication, coordination and close cooperation amongst various government agencies, law enforcement officials and private sector to curb the growing menace of illicit trade.
FICCI organised the training program for Delhi police officials at the Academy for Smart Policing, New Delhi.
Experts at the event viewed that All speakers unanimously agreed on the fact that the existence and operation of smuggling and counterfeiting is not only broad in scope and large in value but is impacting the global economy, causing losses to both industry & government, and most importantly affecting the health and safety of the consumers adversely.
The training was inaugurated by Mr K Jagadeesan, Jt. Commissioner of Police-Training, Delhi Police.
Jagadeesan emphasized that India, as a rising economic superpower need to take offences related to counterfeiting and smuggling very seriously and police has a significant role in fighting this menace.
http://www.smetimes.in/smetimes/news/top-stories/2018/Nov/22/illicit-trade-ficci-cascade41551.html
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Bengal Man Arrested With 26 Gold Biscuits In Artificial Kneecap.
12, November 2018 | NDTV
The Border Security Force on Monday seized gold biscuits worth Rs. 95 lakh from the Indo-Bangladesh border area of West Bengal’s Nadia district and arrested a gold smuggler, a BSF officer said.
Acting on a tip-off, the BSF troopers conducted a raid near border outpost Mustafapur in Nadia district’s Krishnanagar area and arrested one Indian national with the smuggled gold biscuits.
“Lokman Pal, 47, of North 24 Parganas district’s Gangulia village was arrested with 26 gold biscuits worth Rs. 95.16 lakh while he was returning after talking to a Bangladeshi national near the international border fence,” said Rabi Ranjan, a senior officer of BSF’s South Bengal frontier.
“The accused had the gold biscuits hidden in an artificial kneecap on his right leg. He has been handed over to Bagda police station along with the seized consignment for further legal action,” he said.
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Sergey Kapinos: India, Pakistan must cooperate to fight drugs and crime.
12, November 2018 l The Statesman
Sergey Kapinos, a Russian career diplomat, assumed the post of the Representative United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Office for South Asia in November 2016. The office covers six South Asian countries ~ Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Prior to his appointment at UNODC, he was Ambassador, Head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Centre in Bishkek. As the Regional Representative, Kapinos’s focus is to increase awareness about the risks and impact of organised crime and corruption on the rule-of-law and security of the people in the region, and to advocate for the comprehensive implementation of the UN Conventions to counter these.
Kapinos, who was one of the speakers at a FICCI Cascade’s international conference recently, spoke to Ashok Tuteja on the margins of the meet Excerpts.
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Delhi: Court orders sealing of ‘fake’ goods worth Rs 20 lakh
09, November 2018 | Indian Express
After the intervention of a Delhi court, counterfeit products of Puma — a multinational company that manufactures footwear, apparel and accessories — worth Rs 20 lakh were identified and sealed in Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, on November 3. The matter came to fore after counsel for Puma, Shashi P Ojha, approached the court seeking ex-parte injunction and ex-parte appointment of local commissioner on account of “infringement of trademark”.
On October 29, Ojha approached court and said that if the relief is not granted, the company will “suffer irreparable loss and injury” as the defendant was selling goods using the company’s trademark. “Thus causing substantial loss to the business of the plaintiff, Puma…” the lawyer submitted.
After listening to the submission, Additional District Judge Anil Antil said: “The plaintiff has been successful in making out a good prima facie case in its favour for grant of ex-parte injunction and for ex-parte appointment of local commissioner.
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25,000 counterfeit cigarettes seized from Barrow man.
08, November 2018 | The Mail
Alan Mason, of Hartington Street, Barrow, was caught in a sting at a pub in the town by Cumbria Trading Standards after a several complaints.
The 65-year-old was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000, and a victim surcharge of £85, as well as being given a 16 week curfew.
Mason pleaded guilty at Barrow Magistrates Court to selling illegal tobacco from licensed premises.
Trading standards arranged to meet Mason and buy the goods off him after a tip-off from the public.
Following this, officers visited Mason’s home where a large quantity of counterfeit cigarettes and illegal hand rolling tobacco was seized.
https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/17211321.25000-counterfeit-cigarettes-seized-from-barrow-man/
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2 Women Arrested For Smuggling Gold Worth 42 Lakh At Delhi Airport: Cops
07 November 2018 | NDTV
Two Mumbai-bound women have been apprehended by the CISF at the IGI Airport in New Delhi on Tuesday for allegedly trying to smuggle eight small gold bars worth Rs. 42 lakh by concealing them in shoes, a senior official said.
The incident took place early on Tuesday when a woman security personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) detected some suspicious items in the shoe of one of the women, who was identified as Karishma Thakur. Eight small gold bars were recovered from the woman’s shoes, the official said.
A CISF spokesperson said Karishma Thakur was accompanied by another woman and they had landed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport from Chennai and were supposed to take a flight to Mumbai.
“On enquiry, both the passengers could not produce any relevant document and did not give satisfactory reply. The two women, along with the recovered gold bars weighing about 1.32-kg and worth approximately Rs. 42 lakh, were handed over to Income Tax Department officials for further action,” the spokesperson said.
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Cops seize over Dh100 million worth of fake goods in UAE.
04, November 2018 | Khaleej Times
More than Dh100 million worth of counterfeit products, which were being sold in the capital, have been seized by the Abu Dhabi Police, authorities announced on Sunday.
The Abu Dhabi Police said the products were in commercial markets. Some of the products were copied from 31 “prestigious” brands. Authorities said that they began their operation from January of this year.
The products included gold, medical devices, various vehicles parts, smoking supplies including electronics, miscellaneous accessories, clothing, perfume, glasses, watches, bags, wallets, and shoes.
Brigadier Mohammed Suhail Al Rashidi, acting director of the Criminal Security Sector of the Abu Dhabi Police explained that seizing the products were conducted by the Economic Crimes Department of the Criminal Investigations Department. He pointed out that the shops were raided after completing all legal procedures and verifying the location of the counterfeit goods.
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5 Bhutanese nationals arrested for smuggling 20 kg gold worth Rs 6.4 crores.
02, November 2018 l India Today
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 20 kg of smuggled gold worth Rs 6.4 crores in two separate operations in Delhi.
On October 31, officers of DRI intercepted two passengers arriving by train from West Bengal and seized 10 kg of foreign marked smuggled gold worth Rs 3.13 crores from them. The gold was being smuggled into India from Bhutan and transported to Delhi.
In another operation conducted on the same day, officers of DRI seized 10.2 kg of foreign marked smuggled gold from three passengers arriving by another train from West Bengal.
The gold in both the cases was concealed in specially designed cloth belts worn by the passengers. The seized gold had been smuggled via the land border with neighbouring countries and was being transported to Delhi for sale during the festive season.
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Does Counterfeit Fashion Fund Terrorism?
According to fashion writers and historians, every woman’s wardrobe should contain that versatile “little black dress” (LBD). The origins of the phrase and the simple, yet elegant, black cocktail dress predate that worn by Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in the iconic 1960s film Breakfast at Tiffany’s and stretch back in the annals of time to the designs of Coco Chanel and Jean Patou in the 1920s.
As a staple fashion icon, it can be worn with everything to go to anywhere-from the dressy to the dress down. But it can also mean “dressed to kill,” if the LBD in question is a fake? If the sale of such counterfeit fashion was funding another kind of black icon—the black flag of ISIS, or so-called Islamic State.
Would every woman still covet one if the black were tinged red with the blood of innocent civilians or martyred jihadists on the streets of Europe? Would the dress still have its lure and appeal?
There has long been suspicion that counterfeit fashion goods and their sale in the United States and Europe raise millions for what have become cash-rich terrorist causes across the Middle East. The recently recaptured cities of Mosul and Raqqa have given up their grisly secrets of torture and murder in the name of a cause that ruled its so-called “caliphates” with fear and brutal repression and have been bank-rolled in part through the sale of counterfeit fashion—little black numbers, handbags, fake designer sneakers, DVDs, car parts, alcohol, and tobacco.
Recent research converts the anecdotal into the factual for the first time as undercover journalists and researchers have followed the murderous and lucrative trail of the criminal gangs right to the streets of Europe—Paris, Barcelona, and other major cities—to the markets and curbsides where feckless buyers of fake goods hand over their cash.
They, for their part, have no idea—or simply don’t care—that their purchases are putting weapons in the hands of the jihadists who will then turn them on innocent consumers in those same cities where a shopping spree becomes a murderous spree.
https://losspreventionmedia.com/does-counterfeit-fashion-fund-terrorism/
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