Sri Lanka becomes smuggling hotspot, DRI seizes 32 kg gold worth Rs 10 crore in Chennai
In a span of less than 24 hours, officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Chennai Zonal Unit, seized a total of 32.249 kg of gold valued at Rs 10.215 crore. It was smuggled into India by sea and being transported to Chennai for sale.
Six people were apprehended in connection with the case and all of them in their statements admitted that they purposely transported the smuggled gold to Chennai.
The gold was being smuggled from Sri Lanka through coastal Tamil Nadu.
On Tuesday evening, DRI officials kept a strict vigil in the bylanes of Mannady and observed a person on a two-wheeler receiving a heavy suspicious looking package.
The receiver of the contraband was apprehended by the officials. After detailed examination the gold was found to weigh 12.149 kg.
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Rs 35 Lakh Worth Counterfeit TVS Motor Spare Parts Seized
Officials of Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Cell have seized fake parts, labels and die tool machines worth Rs 35 lakh during a raid conducted here recently. The IPR Enforcement Cell, Dindigul unit of Tamil Nadu Police along with officials of TVS Motor Company carried out a raid in some godowns in the district and recovered huge quantities of spare parts, unfinished counterfeit cannisters, die tool machines worth Rs 35 lakh, a press release said.
Following the seizure, IPR Enforcement Cell officials initiated legal action against the company involved in the supply of fake spare parts under the provisions of Copyright Act, the release said.
TVS Motor Company has taken up brand protection programme to ensure availability of genuine parts to consumers through its 4,000 touch points. The Chennai-based company has appointed over 100 authorised parts stockists to supply genuine parts in retail markets across the country, the release added.
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P80-M worth of smuggled, fake cigarettes found in Malabon, Manila
An anti-cigarette smuggling task force uncovered smuggled and fake cigarettes worth about P80 million in Malabon and Manila last week amid higher prices of the so-called sin product due to the government’s first tax reform package, the two leading tobacco manufacturers said.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s “Strike Team,” led by revenue officer Remedios Advincula Jr., in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, last April 17 discovered “large” quantities of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes at a crystal meth (shabu) factory in Barangay Santolan in Malabon, PMFTC Inc. said in a statement.
Authorities found 150 master cases of fake Marlboro cigarettes at a leased property reportedly owned by Marynor Patricio and Nova Acuna, PMFTC said, even as the tax force had yet to confiscate the goods.
Since the cigarettes are fake, they have either no tax stamps or fake tax stamps, hence depriving the government of excise tax payments.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/984345/p80-m-worth-of-smuggled-fake-cigarettes-found-in-malabon-manila
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Uganda loses Sh3bn to illicit cigarette imports
The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) would have netted more than Ush200 billion (about Sh5.46 billion) from the cigarette trade alone but only got Ush74 billion (Sh2 billion) due to a surge in cigarette smuggling last year.
In a media briefing yesterday in Kampala, Mr Vincent Seruma, the URA assistant commissioner public and corporate affairs, said illicit importation of cigarettes occasions serious revenue losses to the exchequer.
“Cigarettes are high value. It enters the country through roguish ways which we are aware of. We have invested significantly in intelligence to break the rackets,” he said.
In the last six months, the URA said it had conducted several interceptions and recovered smuggled goods via the consolidation centre in Kisaasi, a suburb, north east of Kampala.
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Police dismantle tobacco smuggling gang, seize 1.2m cigarettes.
The Portuguese police said they have arrested the leader of a tobacco smuggling gang and seized 1.2 million cigarettes in Porto and Aveiro, both in the north of Portugal.
The leader of the gang has been charged with criminal association and qualified tobacco smuggling.
On Thursday the police seized 130,000 cigarettes and 226 kg of tobacco plus two vehicles. Most of the tobacco has hidden in false compartments in the vehicles that had been specially made to hide the contraband.
The police also said that a total of 10 individuals and two companies had been charged in connection with the smuggling.
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Customs seizes 174,015 litres of petroleum products valued N27m
Joseph Attah, Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says the Service seized 174,015 litres of petroleum products valued at about N27 million in 2017.
Attah made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
He said just like any other products, the NCS had been doing a lot to ensure that products that should not be exported were not, as well ensure that prohibited goods were not smuggled into the country.
“In the case of petroleum products, the statistics here is that of Jan. 2017 to Jan. 2018. A total of 174,015 litres have been seized across the Customs Commands.
“Further breakdown shows that within this period, 81,270 litres of petroleum products were seized in Seme border, 69,150 litres in West Martine Command, 10,000 litres in Federal Operations Unit Zone D, that is the Northeast.
http://thenationonlineng.net/customs-seizes-174015-litres-petroleum-products-valued-n27m/
Lear MoreTake these steps to stay safe from counterfeit software and fraudulent subscriptions
Software piracy and fraudulent subscriptions are serious, industry-wide problems affecting consumers and organizations around the world.
In 2016, 39 percent of all software installed on computers was not properly licensed, according to asurvey conducted by BSA and The Software Alliance. And each year, tens of thousands of people report to Microsoft that they bought software that they later learned was counterfeit.
What can appear to be a too-good-to-be-true deal for a reputable software program, can in fact be a counterfeit copy or a fraudulent subscription. In many cases, such illegitimate software downloads may also be riddled with malware – including computer viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, or even botware, designed to damage your computer, destroy your data, compromise your security, or steal your identity. And in the world of cloud computing, where many applications are often delivered as a subscription service, consumers could be unwittingly sending payments to cybercriminals, unaware that cybercriminals selling fraudulent subscriptions will not provide needed administrative support.
Curbing the proliferation of software piracy
Cybercriminals are always looking for ways to trick consumers– and the outcome can be costly. According to report released by the Ponemon Institute in 2017, the average cost of cybercrime globally climbed to $11.7M per organization, a staggering 62 percent increase over the last five years. And a recent Juniper Research report, Cybercrime & the Internet of Threats 2017, states that “the estimated cost to the global economy as a result of cybercrime is projected to be $8 trillion by 2022.”
How do cybercriminals deceive consumers? There are many ways. One common technique is to set up a fake website that falsely claims the software subscriptions or copies offered for sale on the site are legitimate. Sophisticated cybercriminals go to great lengths to make their websites look authentic to trick consumers into buying fraudulent subscriptions or counterfeit software.
For decades, through partnerships with industry, governments, and other agencies, Microsoft has been working to fight software counterfeiting and to protect consumers from the dangers posed by this and other types of cybercrime. Today, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU), a unique group of cybercrime-fighting investigators, analysts, and lawyers, works globally to detect and prevent fraud targeting our customers. Our priority is to protect our customers and help create a secure experience for everyone. One of the key ways we do this is to work with law enforcement and other organizations to bring the perpetrators of cybercrime to justice.
Lear MoreCounterfeit Products Trafficking.
Counterfeiting of identification documents, CDs, DVDs, software, medicines, weapons, food products, clothing and cigarettes has grown significantly in recent years, largely due to advances in technology and the ease of movement of these goods around the world. The involvement of organized criminal groups in the production and distribution of counterfeit goods is well documented and they operate across national borders in activities that include the manufacture, export, import and distribution of illicit goods. International, regional and national authorities have uncovered intricate links between this crime and other serious offences, such as the ones dealt with in other sections of this Module.
In June 2010, Italian police arrested 17 Chinese nationals and seven Italian nationals in an investigation into various criminal activities, including money laundering, tax evasion, human trafficking, and the distribution of counterfeit goods. The counterfeit goods were primarily designer clothes produced by Chinese criminal groups in Tuscany. That investigation led to the seizure of 780,000 counterfeit items. (UNODC, 2013).
The making of false legal documents or altering of existing documents is forgery. Forgery is a generic term and it technically encompasses counterfeiting. Nonetheless, these terms are often used interchangeably to describe faked or false documents or products of any kind, and their usage varies internationally. Counterfeiting originally referred specifically to the falsifying of currency, but its usage has expanded to all types of forgeries, which involve manufacturing or trading of a document or product without the permission of the lawful owner of the patent, trademark, copyright, or license.
Corruption and bribery are inherently linked to the illicit trafficking of counterfeit goods, especially when these are shipped internationally. Trafficking in counterfeit goods also offers criminals a complementary source of income and a tool to launder proceeds derived from various crimes. In a similar fashion, proceeds from other crimes have been used by organized criminal groups to finance their counterfeiting businesses. (UNICRI / ICC BASCAP, 2013)
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Officials: $5M in counterfeit cellphone parts, $1.1M in cash seized.
Authorities seized about $5 million in counterfeit cellphone components and accessories, along with $1.1 million in cash, from two Wantagh men who used them to repair cellphones that they sold as new, Nassau County officials said Thursday.
The arrests of Gurcharan Luthra, 37, and Sumesh Pasricha, 48, on Monday followed a four-month investigation into the duo, who authorities say received shipments from China and sold the goods on the internet, a store called AMS World in Wantagh and their shared residence on Poulson Street.
Representatives from Nassau police, the Nassau County Distric Attorney’s office, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized a multitude of the products, which were spread out across three long tables during the Thursday news conference in Levittown.
Luthra and Pasricha were arraigned Wednesday in First District Court in Hempstead. Luthra is charged with two counts of counterfeiting second-degree, and Pasricha is charged with counterfeiting second-degree and conspiracy fifth-degree.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/crime/counterfeit-good-homeland-security-1.17738046
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Quantum cascade lasers ‘can detect falsified drugs’.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany have developed a miniaturised quantum cascade laser (QCL) device that could provide a new, no-contact way of rapidly distinguishing falsified from genuine medicines.
The matchbox-sized unit has already showed its security potential in the rapid detection of explosive or toxic substances – at a distance of several metres – and Fraunhofer is in the process of seeking out industry partners to develop that commercial application. At the same time, it is assessing QCL for pharmaceutical applications, including not only detection of counterfeits but also monitoring the quality of medicines during manufacturing.
The semiconductor-based infrared laser technology comes from a tie-up between Fraunhofer’s Dresden-based Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS – which has been working on the detector component of the device – and its Institute for Applied Solid State Physics which developed the tunable laser chips.
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