HMRC nabs cigarette-smuggling driver
A man has been jailed for attempting to smuggle more than eight million cigarettes into the UK.
Stewart Grainger was arrested after HMRC caught him unloading cigarettes that were bought in Kuala Lumpur, worth £1.75m in unpaid excise duty and VAT, at an industrial unit in Ripley. When officers from Derbyshire Police raided the unit Grainger fled but he was arrested five days later. Stuart Taylor, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said, “This type of criminal activity harms the livelihoods of honest shopkeepers, but disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £2bn a year.“This shipment alone would have evaded £1.75m in revenue, much needed money that should be funding public services, not lining the pockets of a few criminals. Don’t let them profit – report it.” Grainger, a lorry driver, was found guilty of the fraudulent evasion of excise duty after an earlier trial and was sentenced to four years at Nottingham Crown Court.
http://economia.icaew.com/news/september-2016/hmrc-nabs-cigarette-smuggling-driver
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Woman brought tobacco, cocaine into federal jail: Charges
An Evergreen Park woman arrested in a South Side traffic stop this week faces charges of smuggling tobacco and cocaine into the federal jail downtown, authorities said.
Nikole Yvette Johnson, 31, was arrested about 9:50 p.m. Tuesday near 87th Street and South Chicago Avenue after police saw her commit a traffic violation and then found there was a federal warrant out for her arrest, said Officer Bari Lemmon, a police spokeswoman.
Johnson, of the 10200 block of South California Avenue in Evergreen Park, was turned over to federal authorities early Wednesday.
A grand jury had handed up an indictment against Johnson on Sept. 8 on charges she had brought tobacco “and a quantity of mixtures and substance containing cocaine” to an inmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, 71 W. Van Buren St., on Oct. 28, 2015, according to the indictment. The indictment does not name the inmate.
Average of 1 in 3 Cigarettes Sold in Ontario are Contraband
Today, the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco (NCACT) released results of a study highlighting 31% of cigarettes purchased in Ontario were illegal.
“With about 1 in 3 of all cigarettes purchased in the province being illegal, Ontario has the worst contraband tobacco problem in the country,” said Gary Grant, a 39-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service and national spokesperson for the NCACT. “This incidence has remained relatively stable now for a number of years, and is a reminder that the provincial and federal governments must take real action to address the problem.”
Contraband was highest in Northern and Southern Ontario, where illegal cigarettes represented 59% and 34% of all cigarettes purchased. About 1 in 5 cigarettes in the GTA and Eastern Ontario, including Ottawa, were illegal. The survey of 1500 adult smokers in Ontario was conducted by GFK over a 12 week period ending on July 23rd. Respondents were asked through a continuous online tracking study about their cigarette purchases over the past 7 days.
http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/average-of-1-in-3-cigarettes-sold-in-ontario-are-contraband-593561261.html
Counterfeit Parts Of Aircraft And Defense Products Could Proliferate Through 3D Printing
3D printing of aircraft and other defense parts certainly transforms the military support environment but the threat of counterfeit parts could fuel a grey market.
“The threat of counterfeit parts from easily accessible 3D printers, coupled with the endless amount of designs available on the Internet, could fuel a black market, Graham Grose, industry director at the IFS Aerospace & Defence Center of Excellence said in an interview with Defenseworld.net Wednesday.
“This has the potential to severely impact the support chain, enabling anyone with the technology to sell counterfeit parts at a discount and leave unsuspecting businesses at risk of poorly performing and dangerous parts,” Graham said.
“While 3D printing is rightly being welcomed in the A&D industry, it will also require key changes in ERP systems to control every element of the manufacturing, maintenance and support chain processes to manage the possibility of counterfeit parts entering the support chain,” he added.
Illegal tobacco problem has decreased, Nova Scotia government says
Nova Scotia convenience store owners want the provincial government to bring in tougher legislation to crack down on illegal tobacco sales.
Mike Hammoud, president of the Atlantic Convenience Stores Association, says the government is losing millions of dollars in potential tax revenue because people are buying contraband tobacco.
Illegal tobacco sales are also hurting convenience store owners’ bottom line, he said.
118,000 contraband cigarettes seized in Lakeside bust, 2 men arrested
”It causes a legitimate customer that’s buying a legal product [to] leave and go to organized crime and buy an illegal product. So we would be losing a customer ”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/convenience-stores-illegal-tobacco-1.3762236
Rampant smuggling holds back Myanmar economy
Illegal smuggling of goods across its borders has become a serious challenge to Myanmar’s effort to modernize its economy, undermining healthy growth of markets and eroding tax revenues.
Aung Moe Kyaw, chairman of International Beverages Trading, which started co-producing beer with Dutch company Heineken last year, views smuggled beer as a bigger threat than competition from domestic rivals.
The home-grown beverage giant is generally doing well, with plans to expand production facilities this year. But illegal imports from neighboring countries such as Thailand are a source of headaches.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Rampant-smuggling-holds-back-Myanmar-economy
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ISI mark on your milk powder may be a counterfeit
Alarmed over fake baby milk powders circulating in the market, the Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA) that works closely with global authorities such as Counterfeit Intelligence Bureau (CIB), Interpol and FICCI Committee against counterfeiting and smuggling, has written to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to implement forensic features on products to ensure safety.
“As the recent scandal in China has shown, counterfeiters will go to any lengths for a quick profit, including putting babies at risk. To protect the 25 million babies born every year in India, it is essential to protect baby milk powders and other nutritional products from the scourge of counterfeiting,” said Nakul Pasricha, Vice President, ASPA. “This can be achieved by securing supply chains through authentication, track-and-trace and other digital solutions, as well as by applying tamper-proof or tamper-evident physical solutions onto packaging, such as security labels and holograms,” he added.
Fake Samsung phones worth Sh6.5m seized in Nairobi
The Anti-Counterfeit Agency seized 276 counterfeit Samsung phones worth Sh6.5 million during a swoop in Nairobi on Friday.
Two shopkeepers were arrested in the crackdown by ACA, working with Anti-Illicit Trade Agency Ltd, – the appointed Samsung brand protection agency.
The phones were found stocked in two electronic shops at Luthuli Avenue following a tip-off from members of the public.
“We had received particular information that there are stores trading cell phones from China with fake Samsung stickers,” ACA inspector Weldon Sigei said.
“We also obtained over 1,000 duplicate mobile telephone accessories including chargers,” Sigei said.
Sigei asked consumers of mobile phone and other merchandise to ensure that they buy their products from authorised dealers.
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/09/09/fake-samsung-phones-worth-sh65m-seized-in-nairobi_c1417205
Police roadblock yields RM114,000 worth of illicit cigarettes
BATU PAHAT: Police believe they have dealt a blow to a tobacco smuggling syndicate following the arrest of a 28-year-old man and seizure of RM114,000 worth of illicit cigarettes early today. District police chief Assistant Commissioner Abdul Wahib Musa said a team of police personnel, manning a roadblock under ‘Op Bersepadu’ at Jalan Kluang, found the stash of contraband cigarettes while inspecting a Naza Ria multi-purpose vehicle at 1.45am. He said the team found a total of 30 gunny sacks containing 22,800 packets of cigarettes worth RM114,000.
http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/09/172063/police-roadblock-yields-rm114000-worth-illicit-cigarettes
Lear MoreDON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY: Beware of counterfeit products
Counterfeit products used to be something you found on street corners in big cities. But not anymore. Now they’re show up online. 13 Action News Anchor Beth Fisher shows us what brands to be careful with, so you Don’t Waste Your Money.
The holiday season will be here before you know it. And many us are already starting to think about what we’ll want to buy. But before you make your shopping list, we have a warning about the most counterfeited products you may encounter. Legitimate looking websites are selling everything from phony North Face jackets, to fake Nike gym shoes that fall apart in weeks.
http://www.ktnv.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/dont-waste-your-money-beware-of-counterfeit-products