Two men arrested by HMRC as part of investigation into suspected multi-million pound tobacco smuggling fraud
A MAN from Dagenham was arrested by HMRC last week as part of an investigation into a suspected £2.24 million tobacco smuggling fraud.
The 29-year-old was arrested on suspicion of importing and distributing non-UK duty paid tobacco products. Another man, 22, from Basildon, Essex, was arrested for the same reason. Both men were bailed until January 2017.
HMRC, with the help of Norfolk Police, seized 7.3 million illicit cigarettes from a unit in Catfield late on Tuesday October 4, before searching suspects’ homes in east London and Essex on Wednesday October 5.
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Tobacco smuggled out of Wellington factory sold on social media
“It’s an offense if you buy stolen products. Like, if a deal is too good to be true, it is too good to be true,” said Inspector Bronwyn Marshall of Wellington Police.
The product usually ends up overseas, but in a case that’s seen four men in the Hutt Valley District Court, most of the stolen goods were sold locally on social media.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/tobacco-smuggled-wellington-factory-sold-social-media
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Animal feed producer sues distributor on counterfeit claims
The speciality feed maker, based in California, claims VBC Peptide Inc, also based in California, has been developing counterfeit feed in China and also selling product in counterfeit Vitech packaging. It also states the practice was occurring while the two companies negotiated a distribution deal in 2014.
Vitech said it has lost more than $2m in sales as a result of the counterfeit actions. It is suing Peptide for fraud and to establish that the distribution deal is void.
The allegations come as a result of Vitech discovering there was a discrepancy in the sales figures. It found that sales to Peptide had dropped yet sales of Vitech products in China were unchanged. When queried, Vitech was told there was excess product in storage.
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Illegal smuggling of drugs, firearms on the rise
More firearms and drugs are illegally entering the country than ever before, a consequence of Koreans having increased access to the goods online, a lawmaker said Monday.
From the beginning of the year to August, 246 firearms-related products – including conventional guns, stun guns, gas guns and parts – have been smuggled into the country, already 36.6 percent higher than the 180 total trafficked in last year, based on data obtained from the Korea Customs Service by Park Myung-jae, a lawmaker from the ruling Saenuri Party.
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The StandardOrganisation of Nigeria (SON) has reiterated its determination to prosecute importers of fake products into the country.
A statement issued in Lagos and signed by the newly appointed Director General of the organisation, Mr Aboloma Anthony Osita, on Friday said that the proposed prosecution of fake products importers and marketers of sub-standard products would mark a new beginning in the agency’s fight against peddlers of inferior products into the country.Osita said tahat the menace of influx of sub-standard products is highly dangerous to the growth of the nation’s economy and human health stressing that no stone will be left unturned under his leadership of the agency to fight peddlers of fake products in the country.He said that its not going to be business as usual as efforts will be stepped up to discourage the importation of fake products.
http://www.thetidenewsonline.com/2016/10/10/son-to-prosecute-importers-of-fake-products/
SON To Prosecute Importers Of Fake Products
The StandardOrganisation of Nigeria (SON) has reiterated its determination to prosecute importers of fake products into the country.
A statement issued in Lagos and signed by the newly appointed Director General of the organisation, Mr Aboloma Anthony Osita, on Friday said that the proposed prosecution of fake products importers and marketers of sub-standard products would mark a new beginning in the agency’s fight against peddlers of inferior products into the country.Osita said tahat the menace of influx of sub-standard products is highly dangerous to the growth of the nation’s economy and human health stressing that no stone will be left unturned under his leadership of the agency to fight peddlers of fake products in the country.He said that its not going to be business as usual as efforts will be stepped up to discourage the importation of fake products.
http://www.thetidenewsonline.com/2016/10/10/son-to-prosecute-importers-of-fake-products/
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Liaoning busts petroleum products smuggling ring
Suspects involved in smuggling petroleum products are seized in a raid jointly launched by customs in Dalian City in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province and Qingdao City of East China’s Shandong Province, and the coastguards of Liaoning. Some 29 suspects were caught in the raid and an oil tanker and 20 trucks confiscated. The illegal operation is thought to have been worth 60 million yuan. ($8.9 million). (Photo: China News Service/Gao Shuo)
http://www.ecns.cn/visual/hd/2016/10-20/108558.shtml
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12 million fake phones and accessories seized in Dubai
Dubai: More than 12 million counterfeit mobile phones and mobile accessories were seized by the Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai between January and September this year.
The counterfeit products were valued at more than Dh327.4 million.
EbrahimBehzad, Head of Intellectual Property Rights division at DED, said intensive scrunity from authorities like the DED and Dubai Police led to counterfeiters “thinking up new and innovative ways to hide and make their counterfeit products”.
Behzad was speaking at the Emirates Intellectual Property Association (EIPA) conference on combating intellectual property crimes on Monday.
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Nearly 1 billion smuggled cigarette packets annually consumed in Vietnam
Nearly one billion smuggled cigarette packets are consumed in Vietnam each year, causing losses of over 10,000 billion Vietnamese dong, or some 450 million US dollars, to its state budget, local media reported Sunday.
The cigarette smuggling also causes losses of one million jobs for farmers and workers in the domestic tobacco industry, Central Vietnam Television (VTV) quoted statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietnam Tobacco Association as reporting.
In the last two years, Vietnamese police forces nationwide detected nearly 4,000 cases of cigarette smuggling, confiscating more than nine million packets, and prosecuted over 300 cases, VTV quoted statistics from the Ministry of Public Security.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1010266.shtml
Investigation into illegal electronics smuggling ends in arrest of two Russians and a Brooklyn man
Federal agents arrested two Russian nationals and a Brooklyn man with dual citizenship Thursday who are accused of smuggling high-tech electronics overseas in violation of U.S. export law.
Dmitrii Karpenko, Alexey Krutilin and Alexey Barysheff were taken into custody on charges related to what investigators described as an illegal scheme that put national security at risk. They each face up to 25 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted.
Mr. Barysheff, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Russia, masterminded the scheme by using two Brooklyn-based front companies to buy digital-to-analog converters, integrated circuits and other microelectronics that were then shipped to his home country without a license, the Justice Department said.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/7/investigation-into-illegal-electronics-smuggling-e/