13 arrests in Hong Kong cigarette smuggling crackdown
Customs officials seized about 2.1 million illicit cigarettes and arrested 13 people in the latest raid on cross-border tobacco smugglers.The seizures, valued at about HK$5.6 million, followed a two-week operation targeting vehicles crossing the border from the mainland. Two cars were seized and five suspected tobacco storage pointswere smashed.The tobacco involved would have attracted duties of HK$4.1 million, customs said.Illicit cigarettes have grown in popularity in recent years as taxes have risen. One British study said as many as a third of cigarettes smoked in Hong Kong in 2012 were illegal, although the claim has been disputed by anti-smoking campaigners.
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HONEYWELL highlights dangers of counterfeit refrigerants in Saudi ARABIA as 90% of residents believe non-brand products are in circulation
A new survey released today by Honeywell (NYSE: HON) found that occupants of Saudi Arabia are concerned about potentially dangerous counterfeit refrigerants, which are increasingly found in the Middle East. Counterfeit refrigerants are a dangerous, persistent problem around the world. After several containers carrying counterfeit refrigerants exploded in 2012, the United Nations Environment Programme said that counterfeit refrigerants “appear to be a global issue of concern and a wider range of stakeholders are possibly at risk.”
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Steel industry told to boost quality
Insiders and experts have said the sheet steel industry needs to improve quality and bring down prices to combat fakes, which have become pervasive.Le The Bao, chairman of the Viet Nam Association for Anti-counterfeiting and Trademark Protection (VATAP), told Viet Nam News that counterfeits were a hot issue in the country, affecting every industry, especially makers of sheet steel.”Developing production” would help improve product quality and cut down prices, enabling the industry to take on counterfeits, something that “has been stressed by the Government,” he said
http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/Economy/2014/12/111862/
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Rikers Correction Officer Convicted Of Smuggling Pot, Other Items
A Rikers Island correction officer was convicted Friday of smuggling drugs and other items into the jail. As WCBS 880’s Irene Cornell reported, U.S. Attorney PreetBharara called the conviction of correction Officer Austin Romain another step toward rooting out the bad actors at Rikers Island, and reforming the troubled institution.
Romain was charged last year along with co-defendant Officer Khalif Phillips of smuggling marijuana, tobacco and scalpels into maximum security facilities and selling them to inmates.
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Customs dept to crackdown on illegal cigarettes
The Customs Department will launch an “Ops PACAK” next year to go aggressive against the smuggling in of contraband cigarettes. The launch also comes in the wake of the department having seized 20.63 million illegal cigarette sticks with a tax value of RM10.33million in an anti-smuggling operations in 2013. Customs Department Deputy Director General (Enforcement and Compliance) Datuk MatrangSuhaili said this was the highest amount of such seized contraband in the country. He said smuggled cigarettes deprived the country of RM1.9billion in tax revenue and urged public cooperation to put a stop to such activities.
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1265201
Lear MoreConsumers warned over festive counterfeit goods
GWYNEDD Trading Standards are warning consumers about the implications of buying counterfeit goods this Christmas.
The current economic climate may make cheap deals even more tempting, but they have advised that consumers should be aware of the wider implications and the risks to their own safety, they said, adding that counterfeiting and piracy of trademarked and copyrighted products and services also cause considerable damage to legitimate businesses.
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Brady Brand Protection Announces Partnership with Element Case
The solution features complex, securely designed labels that can be scanned for authenticity by any smart phone equipped with a publicly available barcode-reading app. External labels on product packaging are matched with internal labels inside the product’s frame, providing instant digital authentication. Brady integrated HP’s Global Product Authentication Service (GPAS) into the solution, allowing Element Case customers and supply chain partners to instantly validate if a product is genuine.
Responding to Counterfeiting
Element Case is the premier boutique manufacturer of luxury accessories for smart phones and tablets. As an iconic pop culture brand, the company has encountered unprecedented levels of counterfeiting from international markets. In order to eliminate these counterfeits and provide its discerning customers full protection against copycat products, the company has tapped into Brady’s latest product authentication technologies.
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Canada’s contraband problem is about much more than lost revenue
A large market, along with relatively easy retail, low enforcement priority and outsized profit margins have made contraband cigarettes lucrative.
One of the measures of state failure is the relative size of the underground economy. So-called narco-states are rife with smuggled cigarettes, liquor, drugs and gasoline, and are a telltale sign that the institutions of government are not functioning as they should.
Inability to assert the right to tax is indicative of state failure or collapse. We commonly associate this phenomenon with select parts of the Balkans, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. But Canada?
Contraband tobacco is thought to incur global annual tax losses in the order of $40 billion-$50 billion (U.S.). Estimates range from 10.7 to 11.6 per cent of cigarettes consumed worldwide. Canada’s contraband cigarette problem is outsized and disproportionate by comparison: our illicit tobacco market is estimated at 15 to 33 per cent of all cigarettes consumed.
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Customs wants fags, liquor smugglers jailed
The Customs Department is in the process of asking for mandatory jail sentence be imposed on offenders for the smuggling and illegal distribution and selling of cigarettes and liquor.
Its deputy director-general (Enforcement and Compliance), MatrangSuhaili, said the application was made as the compound fines imposed currently under the Customs Act 1967 were no longer effective in stemming these illegal activities which caused losses to the country.
Lear MoreKorea steps up cigarette smuggling crackdown
The Korea Customs Service is to reinforce the monitoring of tobacco smuggling on concerns about the burgeoning trade of duty-free cigarettes in the domestic market following an announced price hike.
In the run-up to a tobacco price hike on Jan. 1, the agency said it would closely monitor tourists purchasing more duty-free cigarettes than the government-imposed 10 pack limit.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20141209000833
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