Cigarette Tax Fallout
It’s been nearly one month since Nevada’s cigarette excise tax increase went into effect, raising the average pack price from $5 to $6. The $1 per pack tax hike represents the state’s largest single cigarette-tax increase and its first tax hike since 2003. Not surprisingly, tobacco retailers are concerned about what this means for business. “I think it (cigarette use) will decline, it will decline substantially,” Steve Moran, director of business enterprise and economic development for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony (a major tobacco player in the state) told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “This is a substantial increase (in taxes).” Retailers in Kansas have expressed similar concerns after lawmakers enacted a similar excise tax increase in June, increasing cigarette taxes by 63% (from 79 cents per pack to $1.29 per pack). The Kansas tax revenue is slotted to cover a $400 million budget deficit, while Nevada’s additional revenue will likely go towards a $1.3 billion increase in educational funding.
http://www.cspnet.com/category-news/tobacco/articles/kansas-nevada-brace-cigarette-tax-fallout
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Tobacco Smuggling Trial Through Manchester Airport
Two friends from Liverpool attempted to evade over £50,000 in tax by smuggling cigarettes and tobacco through Manchester airport. Ahmed Barakat, 34, and Elaine Wright, 54, were investigated by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), after being caught at the airport by Border Force officers earlier this year. In January 2015, the pair arrived on the same flight from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and appeared to be travelling separately with other parties. Barakat was stopped and was found to have 103,000 cigarettes and 13.5 kilos hand rolling tobacco (HRT) in his luggage. Wright was then caught with 21,400 cigarettes and five kilos HRT in her luggage –despite the personal allowance for cigarettes from Egypt being 200. During his interview with HMRC investigators, Barakat admitted he was trying to evade excise duty and tax so he could sell the cigarettes for profit in the UK
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/merseyside-pair-tried-smuggle-103000-9752550
Lear MoreGolf Anti-Counterfeiting Group Continues Fight
Now in its second decade of working with law enforcement to limit the spread of counterfeit golf products, the U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group (The Golf Group) experienced strong successes in the first half of 2015, collaborating with Chinese officials to conduct five raids and witnessing the sentencing of several convicted counterfeiters. During the raids, authorities found more than 1,100 counterfeit golf products and obtained computer records of numerous online sales, adding to an impressive total of more than one million products seized by law enforcement since the group’s inception in 2004.
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China Counterfeit iPhone makers busted by police
The Health Ministry’s Pharmacy Enforcement Division (PED) conducts interactive exhibitions and public lectures, and works closely with the Education Ministry to disseminate information to students on the health risks posed by unregistered health products.”To combat the sale of counterfeit medicines in Malaysia, enforcement officers carry out routine and scheduled inspections, entry-point checking, market sampling, and conduct raids to seize and confiscate unregistered products,” says Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.PED is involved in Operation Pangea, Interpol’s annual cooperative effort with law enforcement and customs agents from throughout the globe, which targets illicit drug trafficking through the Internet.
http://yourhealth.asiaone.com/content/you-could-be-taking-fake-medicine-and-not-know-it
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Cigarettes smuggling ‘the new cocaine trade’; ‘paltry ‘ fines blamed
The sale of illegal cigarettes has been labelled “the new cocaine” trade in Ireland. That’s the conclusion of a new report that’s been submitted to a committee investigating cross-Border smuggling. It warns that laws in the area aren’t being enforced rigorously enough, and almost 1 in 4 cigarettes smoked here have been smuggled in. Benny Gilsenan from Retailers Against Smuggling agreed criminals were not being put off by the consequences of getting caught. “According to the European policing agencies, Ireland is deemed to be a very soft target because of the penalties dished out to those when they’re caught,” he said. “The fines are only paltry – €2,500 is something they’ll make in a day.”
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Illegal tobacco seized during operation in Glasgow
Twelve premises were targeted and 16,500 cigarettes, as well as 3.5kg of hand rolling tobacco were discovered. Officers visited shops, pubs and markets and found 10,000 illegal cigarettes under a floor board at one premises. A campaign aimed at tackling the illicit tobacco trade was launched by crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers. Authorities believe educating smokers is key to cracking down on illicit tobacco. Crimestoppers bosses said many people may not be fully aware of the links between illegal cigarettes and serious and organised crime gangs.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/13501715.Illegal_tobacco_seized_during_operation_in_Glasgow/
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Authorities fume: 25% of cigarettes smuggled into Republic
Almost one of four cigarettes smoked in Ireland has been smuggled in as part of an illegal trade that is costing the exchequer some €250 million a year, according to a former lead investigator for the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab).In a report submitted to Senator Paul Coghlan, the chair of a British-Irish parliamentary committee investigating cross-Border smuggling, the investigator says cigarettes have become the new cocaine trade but without the risk.The report says the law is not being enforced rigorously enough and the smugglers are being allowed to operate with very little chance of detection on both sides of the Border.
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Your Almond Milk is Probably (Definitely) Fake
We all know that almond milk contains water, but did you have any idea that there’s only 2 percent almonds in an entire jug of the nutty stuff? A recent class action suit against Blue Diamond Growers claims that the brand is falsely advertising the contents in Almond Breeze, its dairy-free milk. While Blue Diamond doesn’t list what percentage of the almond milk is made from almonds in the United States, the U.K. Almond Breeze website reveals that it’s just 2 percent. So what exactly is in the bottle? The plaintiffs, Tracy Albert and Dimitrios Malaxianis, argue that it’s mostly water, sugar, carrageenan (a polysaccharide used for thickening), and sunflower lecithin (an emulsifier). The lawsuit was filed in New York on July 14, and though it doesn’t specify what percentage of almonds would be deemed acceptable for purchase, it does state that an extensive review of almond milk recipes require “one part almonds to three or four parts water, amounting to 25 to 33 percent almonds.”
http://www.delish.com/food-news/a43257/almond-milk-mislabeled-false-advertising/
Lear MoreDesigner products versus fakes
A Miami fashion blogger distinguishes knock-off products from designer goods after a Call Christina viewer was concerned that the bag she was buying wasn’t the designer label that she thought it was
http://www.local10.com/news/designer-products-versus-fakes/34384168
Lear MoreCustoms seize over J$250m in counterfeit goods
The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) confiscated over J$250 million worth of counterfeit goods at the island’s ports of entry between January 2014 and April 2015. Commissioner of Customs and JCA Chief Executive Officer, Major (Ret’d) Richard Reese, said that the items include: over 20,000 pairs of footwear valued at approximately $80 million; 1, 920 bottles of perfume, fragrances, and toilet water, valued $3.84 million; 200 handbags, valued at $2.1 million; 80 pieces of clothing costing $49 million; and approximately four million sticks of cigarette, valued at $120 million. Other items include over 3,000 handbags; 18,000 pieces of assorted clothing; 1,000 belts; 5, 200 hats; and over 11,000 disposable razors, as well as pharmaceuticals. Some of the products were intended for the local market, while others were destined for other countries.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Customs-seize-over-J-250m-in-counterfeit-goods
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