Undercover operation finds illegal cigarettes on sale in Leicester
Undercover investigators have revealed how easy it is to buy illegal cigarettes in shops in Leicester. A team led by ex-Metropolitan Police officer Will O’Reilly visited a number of off-licences and convenience stores in the east of the city last week to determine the scale of the ‘under the counter’ trade. The team, which works for cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris International, was visiting the city for the first time, and stressed it was choosing shops at random.
Lear MoreStudent Smuggled 30,000 Cigarettes
A Portsmouth student who smuggled more than 30,000 cigarettes into the country has been handed an 18 week jail sentence. Customs officers also found almost 4 thousand pounds hidden under Jielong Xiao’s bedside table. Xiao, a Chinese national studying in the UK, smuggled cigarettes into the UK through the post from China, Singapore and Sweden, in packages labelled ‘plastic toys’ or ‘shoes’, evading excise duty and VAT of £9,655.
http://www.wave105.com/news/local/student-smuggled-30-000-cigarettes/
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Don’t let fake goods ruin your Christmas
The law states that all toys have to be safe but dangerous toys are still out there so it’s best to be careful and follow some top tips. Think about the product, the price and the place they’re being sold. We’ve recently put out a warning about cheap `copycat’ versions of hoverboards, which normally cost between £300 and £600, but are popping up online for around £100.
Many of the cheaper versions have failed electrical safety tests. Ask yourself does it match the quality of the real product? Fakes often have incorrect spelling. Do the logos look right? Is the item suspiciously cheap?
http://www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/news/column-don-t-let-fake-goods-ruin-your-christmas-1-7618719
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Fake products boom in Saudi Arabia’s markets
Long gone are the days when the Saudi market was full of high-quality electronics and other consumer products. Instead of globally-recognized brands, cheap imports and fake goods from East Asian countries now constitute a large portion of the products being sold in markets all over Saudi Arabia. Although the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has exerted great efforts to curb the import of counterfeit and poor quality products, their efforts have failed to stem the flow, Al-Riyadh daily reports.
Issa Al-Issa, a spokesman for Saudi Customs, said over 84 million fake goods have been seized since the beginning of 2015, of which 400,000 were fake auto spare parts while 372,000 constituted fake medications.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/variety/2015/12/11/Fake-products-boom-in-Saudi-Arabia-s-markets.html
Lear More50,000 cigarettes and 60kg of tobacco among products seized in HMRC property raids
A series of raids across South West Wales, including at two properties in Swansea, saw customs officers seize illegal alcohol, tobacco and cigarettes worth thousands of pounds. Around 15 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers, supported by sniffer dogs, raided 19 premises including self-storage units, retail shops and a pub during two days of action on Wednesday and Thursday. HMRC said the seizures represented more than £30,000 in lost duty.
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TayNinh Police seize 9000 smuggled cigarette packs
TayNinh — Police in the southeastern TayNinh Province caught a ship in Vam Co Dong River, which was smuggling 9,000 packs of cigarettes from Cambodia. The goods were identified to be of Cambodian origin, being smuggled into Việt Nam for profit. TayNinh Police also discovered two boats that were transporting 9,600 packs of cigarettes on Monday. In the middle of September, they seized 8,000 packs of cigarettes of the Jet and Hero brands, which had been smuggled from Cambodia. TayNinh is the connecting point between HCM City and Phnom Penh in Cambodia, and a key economic zone in the south. Hence, smuggling activities in the area have been increasing over many years.
http://vietnamnews.vn/society/279735/tay-ninh-police-seize-9000-smuggled-cigarette-packs.html
Lear MoreNew Effort To Combat Security Threat Of Illicit Tobacco Trade
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Late last week, the U.S. government announced its plan to combat the illicit tobacco trade. In support of the U.S. National Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime, the U.S. Department of State launched “The Global Illicit Trade in Tobacco: A Threat to National Security,” a publication outlining the emerging negative impact of the illicit trade in tobacco and the government’s efforts to combat it. The illicit trade in tobacco provides a lucrative revenue stream for organized crime and terrorists. Within the United States, the illicit trade deprives governments of tax revenues, causing approximately $3 billion to $7 billion in tax losses annually to individual states and localities.
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WARNING: Spread of plain packaging bad for Bradford producers and boost for counterfeit cigarette sales
Mr Ridgway, director of the Ilkley-based Consumer Packaging Manufacturers Alliance, said the decision of the French government to enforce plain packaging for tobacco products next year would put more pressure on pack suppliers, including Weidenhammer Packaging at Buttershaw and Chesapeake at Lidget Green, which aspect much of their output. He warned that this would boost the black market in counterfeit products. Following the introduction of plain packaging in Australia around 14 per cent of cigarette sales are now counterfeit. and Mr Ridgway says the UK will go in the same direction after May.
A narrow vote in the French parliament for the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes follows similar moves in Canada and new laws in the UK, Australia and Ireland.
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Owner of Spring Bank store faces prison after discovery of illegal tobacco worth £40,000
The owner of a city shop found with nearly 200,000 illegal cigarettes is facing jail. He pleaded guilty to eight counts relating to possession and supply of illegally-manufactured and branded cigarettes.
The store had its drinks licence revoked earlier this year after three raids uncovered more than £40,000 of illegal cigarettes and tobacco. Humberside Police and Hull City Council’s trading standards team discovered 188,000 smuggled and foreign-labelled cigarettes and 750 pouches of counterfeit hand-rolled tobacco. City trading standards manager Chris Wilson said it was a crime that could have deep repercussions for victims.
Resident fined MOP5,000 for tobacco smuggling
Macau — A Macau resident has been discovered by the Customs Service (SA) carrying an amount of cigarettes far exceeding the legal allowance into the territory. On September 17, the man was intercepted at the Gongbei Border in possession of six packages totaling 1,200 cigarettes.
The merchandise was immediately confiscated and the Service penalized the resident with an accessory fine of MOP5,000. According to the SA investigation, the goods seized and found were likely destined to be sold in Macau with a profit margin of 30 percent. Dissatisfied with the decision of the SA, the resident appealed, claiming to be unemployed and receiving only a monthly subsidy from the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) of MOP1,500.The case reached its final stage with the Administrative Court (TA) rejecting the claims from the applicant and upholding the decision of the SA director.
http://macaudailytimes.com.mo/resident-fined-mop5000-for-tobacco-smuggling.html
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