Falls Church Man Sentenced for Smuggling Fake Apple, Samsung Products
Bao Doan, 32, Falls Church, was sentenced Friday to a year and one day in prison for conspiring to traffic in counterfeit Apple and Samsung products and smuggling, the U.S. Justice Department for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.
Doan was also ordered to forfeit over $115,000 in proceeds and to pay Apple and Samsung more than $20,000 in restitution.
Counterfeit e-commerce: The dark side of WhatsApp
Transgressions attract notice but only when there is a witness. Counterfeits on e-commerce portals attract attention while counterfeits sold on WhatsApp go unnoticed.
Indian e-commerce firms these days are anxious to reassure customers about the genuineness of products in their online marketplaces. Flipkart has been running a campaign titled “Flipkart matlab bilkul pakka” (Flipkart means completely genuine), trying to differentiate itself on the genuineness of its products and easy returns. Amazon has run an advertisement titled “We Indians love asli” featuring Indians checking out the genuineness of products.
Ecuador: Potato and onion producers ask government to curb smuggling
According to domestic producers of potatoes and red onions, apart from having to deal with production costs that are higher than in Colombia and in Peru, they also have to compete against products being smuggled through the borders.
Fernando Pozo, a potato producer and member of the Council of Citizen Participation for the Agricultural Sector in Tungurahua, said that, due to the production costs and smuggling, producers were not making a profit and sometimes even lost money.
The traders from the Ambato wholesale market concur with producers on the need of conducting operations to prevent the smuggling of products through the northern and southern borders as these affect the national production and influence prices.
Mario Mayorga, president of the Merchants Association of the Central Wholesale Market, said that the lack of controls was causing the bankruptcy of small and medium producers, especially of potatoes and red onions.
According to statistics, nearly 60,000 quintals of red onions enter the country on a monthly basis.
Fake Kent RO’s seized, duplicator arrested in Bhatinda
Police on a raid action seized duplicate Kent RO products and arrested a duplicator one Jatinder Kumar Bansal at Bhatinda.
Kent has granted Authority to a Brand Protection Agency to conduct investigation and initiate Prosecution under Criminal legislation to punish the infringers / duplicators.
Following a complaint lodged against Luxmi Enterprises located at Ram Bagh Road, Grain Market, Bhatinda, a team of seven constables led by sub-inspector Sh. Rajpal Singh of Punjab Police of Kotwali Police Station, Bhatinda, seized 13 fake Kent RO’s worth 1.82 lakh and 12 fake Kent pumps worth 26,400 rupees.FIR has been lodged against the owner Jatinder Kumar Bansal of said Luxmi Enterprises, who has been arrested by Punjab Police and subsequently sent to Judicial Custody by the Court.
UN Diplomats Lived Large on Smuggled Tobacco
Flashy BMWs, a pristine villa in downtown Geneva, United Nations diplomatic credentials and close to $2.4 million in profit. Welcome to the lucrative life of a UN cigarette smuggler.
Two employees on a diplomatic mission from Iraq to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland were caught abusing their diplomatic status last month by illegally funneling over 600,000 cigarettes into France.
The two employees had been allegedly making the transactions over the course of three years with the aim of making sales on the black market.
The plan involved using a German firm to acquire duty-free cigarettes, only to have them stored in a warehouse near the Geneva airport and eventually trucked to the Rennes region of France for sale on the street.
https://panampost.com/yael-ossowski/2016/09/21/un-diplomats-lived-large-on-smuggled-tobacco/
Lear MoreHong Kong Customs smashes suspected smuggling case of electronic products at Shenzhen Bay Control Point
Hong Kong (HKSAR) – Hong Kong Customs today (September 20) seized a large haul of electronic products valued at about $1.7 million on board an outgoing coach at Shenzhen Bay Control Point and arrested one person.
Customs officers mounted an anti-smuggling operation and intercepted an outgoing coach for search at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point this morning. A batch of electronic products including 348 smartphones, 1204 central processing units and 400 computer rams were found inside the air duct in the cabin. The 43-year-old male driver was arrested. Investigation is ongoing. Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
Why China won’t give up Kingdom of Fakes title any time soon
Earlier this year stores in Hong Kong that sell paper goods to be used as offerings to the dead were astonished to receive a letter from Italian luxury brand Gucci warning them to stop selling paper versions of its goods.“These products are offerings for the dead, not the living, so how can we be violating copyright?” said one indignant shop owner in Sheung Wan.
The story is vivid evidence of how, 15 years after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) and despite high-profile campaigns by the government, China remains the undisputed King of Fakes.
The latest report by the OECD in April this year estimated that the global value of imported fake goods in 2013 was US$461 billion, accounting for 2.5 percent of all trade, up 84 percent from US$250 billion or 1.8 percent of all trade in 2007.
http://www.ejinsight.com/20160920-why-china-won-t-give-up-kingdom-of-fakes-title-any-time-soon/
Lear More
Shenzhen customs seize more than 400 smuggled iPhones 7 and 7 Plus
Shenzhen customs seized more than 400 smuggled iPhone 7 and 7 Plus on Friday, the day the new batch of Apple products sold.
The smuggled products are estimated to be worth over 3 million yuan (450,000 USD), said the customs.
Between 18:30 to 19:00 on Friday, officers caught seven smugglers with a total 190 iPhone 7 and 7 Plus between them. They tied the products around their waists and ankles, most of them already have smuggling offences.
Suspects told customs they only earn 200-300 yuan for taking 20-30 products into China.
The iPhones will be auctioned to the public, according to Shenzhen customs. Individuals can find the information for the auction at the Shenzhen customs website and the local newspapers to apply for the auction.
http://english.cri.cn/12394/2016/09/18/2743s940572.htm
Lear More
Zimbabwe: Mutare Traders Report ‘Brisk Business’ As Police Say Smuggling Up
GOVERNMENT ban on the importation of some foreign products into the country seems to be failing as cases of smuggling continue to surge along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border with traders in Mutare reporting “brisk business”.
Local traders continue to defy government directive to buy local products as they opt to smuggle cheaper and affordable goods from Mozambique.
Government recently enacted Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 prohibiting the importation of goods such as groceries from entering the country. Only those granted a special import licence can bring in certain goods, according to the new law. Announcing the law, the minister of industry, Mike Bimha, said the move was meant to protect local industries against unfair competition from cheap imports. But many people thought the law was unfair as it forced them to abandon their businesses and buy from local shops owned by senior government officials.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201609190398.html
Lear MoreEXCLUSIVE: How British tourists buying counterfeit handbags in Dubai are funding Kim Jong-un’s nuclear missile program
British tourists have been warned against buying counterfeit luxury goods in Dubai because they could be funding North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and his nuclear missile program.
Experts say many of the fake handbags, purses and Rolex watches on sale in ‘secret shops’ in Dubai are believed to be have been counterfeited in North Korea.
The industry is worth millions of pounds and brings in desperately needed hard currency for the Pyongyang regime.
The UN Security Council has begun drawing up even tighter sanctions after North Korea conducted its fifth and biggest missile test last week.
South Korea accused Kim Jong-un of ‘maniacal recklessness’ and the North Korean ambassador to London was called to the Foreign Office to be told how seriously Britain viewed the test as a breach of the non-proliferation treaty.