800,000 fewer illegal cigarettes on our region’s streets
More than 800,000 illegal cigarettes have been seized by West Yorkshire Trading Standards as part of a crackdown on illegal tobacco on the region’s streets. Illegal tobacco worth a street value if over £140,000 has been seized since April 2014 as part of the Tackling Illicit Tobacco for Better Health Programme.
Smuggled cigarettes seized
Lahore – In two different raids in Lahore on Friday and Saturday, Law Enforcement Authorities raided retailers selling smuggled cigarettes. According to sources, despite governments warnings through advertisements, cigarette retailers and wholesalers continued selling illegal cigarettes. FBR created awareness against illegal cigarettes along with the consequences for selling them, not only through newspaper advertisements but also through billboards and even Cinema advertisements. The raids on the retailers come after a huge stock seizure of 450 cartons of cigarettes by Customs Intelligence team.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/81611-Smuggled-cigarettes-seized
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Black Country cigarette smuggler jailed for three years
Gulan Shaikh, aged 64, of Essington Road, Willenhall, was spotted using a mobile phone while driving in September 2014. Officers who searched his van found 16 boxes containing cigarettes and rolling tobacco. The officers then searched his home, where over 57,000 cigarettes were stored in the garage. Altogether, it was estimated Shaikh’s collection of cigarettes and tobacco totalled £102,180.
Fake cement hits Malawi market
One of the cement manufacturing companies in Malawi, Lafarge, has expressed concern over the huge number of fake cement being found on the market. After conducting a survey in Chirimba Township in Blantyre, Lafarge found that most businesses are selling the company’s cement illegally. The company has promised to proceed with the survey in all parts of the country and has assured that all sellers of counterfeit cement will face the law.Lafarge is doing the research together with the Malawi Bureau of Standards as well as Malawi Police.
http://malawi24.com/2015/12/13/fake-cement-hits-malawi-market/
Lear MoreUndercover 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
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