Counterfeit refrigerants ‘potentially dangerous’
Residents in Saudi Arabia are concerned about potentially dangerous counterfeit refrigerants which are increasingly found in the Middle East, a new survey released Satuday by Honeywell revealed.
Counterfeit refrigerants are a dangerous, persistent problem around the world.
After several containers carrying counterfeit refrigerants exploded in 2012, the United Nations Environment Program said that counterfeit refrigerants “appear to be a global issue of concern and a wider range of stakeholders are possibly at risk.”
Lear MoreCornwall-based Regional Task Force charges five with tobacco-smuggling offences
The Cornwall-based Regional Task Force made a series of tobacco-smuggling arrests through November and the beginning of this month as it continues to police trafficking along the Canada-U.S. border.In the first incident on Nov. 3, a boat with two occupants travelled into a Bainsville area bay of lake St. Francis. The boat did not have navigational lights on.
Task force members swooped in after noticing a white Ford van backing up towards the shoreline and a number of cardboard boxes and one man next to them. A second man was found inside the van with more boxes, which turned out to be 80 boxes of contraband tobacco.
Lear MoreWarning for farm exports, as Chinese counterfeiters rip off Aussie products
An Australian farmer who has been exporting to China is pulling his product out of the market over counterfeit concerns. His move comes as Australian agriculture eyes the fresh opportunities of exporting to China under the recently agreed free trade agreement. Victorian producer David Blackmore, of Blackmore Wagyu Beef, has been selling his product to high-end restaurants in China for several years, but has recently become aware of counterfeit products being passed off as his beef, which fetches a premium price.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-15/nrn-chinese-counterfeits-for-monday/5961030
Lear MoreBlack market for illicit tobacco in Devon and Cornwall puts squeeze on already hard-pressed families
A black market in illicit tobacco is engulfing Devon and Cornwall, funding organised crime, damaging health and causing tax hikes for already hard-pressed families. In a covert operation, special detectives from the tobacco industry have discovered that either smuggled or illegally produced tobacco is available in every corner of the region from small villages to major towns. Former Scotland Yard detective Will O’Reilly, who led the undercover operation, said his team has not expected to see such a widespread problem.
Lear More
Police Seize Bootlegged Cigarettes Worth Tl 6 Million
Turkish security forces have seized 62.000 cartons of bootlegged cigarettes worth about TL 6 million ($2.61 million) in an operation against smugglers in southern Turkey’s Gaziantep.
The cigarettes, which were declared as exports to Iraq from another country, were loaded on a truck from a customs warehouse in Mersin in southern Turkey. They were destined for an airport shop in Irbil, Iraq. Customs officials installed a vehicle-tracking device on the truck as a precaution against smuggling. But the truck’s driver removed the device on the way.
http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2014/12/15/police-seize-bootlegged-cigarettes-worth-tl-6-million
Lear MoreMaplewood attorney pleads guilty to smuggling contraband
A Maplewood attorney who worked for nearly 20 years as an assistant prosecutor for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has admitted he participated in a scheme to smuggle contraband, including marijuana and tobacco, to inmates in the Essex County Jail, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced. Brian Kapalin, 67, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to smuggle contraband into a federal detention facility before U.S. District Judge Mary Cooper on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Kapalin faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. He will be sentenced March 18.
Lear MoreCustoms agents foil smuggling of 152,000 cigarette cartons
The Jordan Customs Department (JCD) on Sunday said its personnel thwarted an attempt to smuggle around 152,000 cartons of different brands of cigarettes into the country.The owner of three containers, which arrived at Aqaba Port from China, claimed that the contents included medical beds, a senior JCD official said.“Our agents became suspicious of the containers’ contents and decided to conduct a thorough search,” the JCD official told The Jordan Times.
The search yielded 3,040 boxes that contained the smuggled cartons of cigarettes, according to a JCD statement.
Lear More13 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.
Lear More
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.”
Lear More
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/
Lear More