Interpol: Organized crime, aware of weak points, targets counterfeit drugs
Organized crime has moved into selling counterfeit and compromised prescription drugs in Europe, exploiting the mishmash of customs laws and weak points in some border protection. Those weaknesses allowed the “Mafia” to get fake manifests, use suspect wholesalers, and sell counterfeits of Roche’s ($RHHBY) Herceptin and other cancer drugs across Europe. “You can see the Mafia people saw the opportunity to make money and they know that pharmaceutical crime is one of the good havens for them right now because of lack of legislation and the complexities of coordination in countries,” Aline Plancon, head of Interpol’s pharmaceutical crime unit, said at a conference in Ireland Wednesday, Medical Xpress reported.
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Couple sentenced to prison for taking bribes, smuggling items into prison
A former Three Rivers prison guard and his wife will serve time after pleading guilty to smuggling contraband into the prison, according to a U.S. attorney’s office news release. Joel Gonzalez was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison and his wife, Lisa Gonzalez, was sentenced to 10 months, the release states. They also were sentenced to three years probation upon release. Joel Gonzalez said from December 2012 to April 2014 he took bribes from an inmate and smuggled tobacco and other items into the prison with the help of his wife, the news release states.
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California health and child-welfare agency may seek increase in tobacco tax
An earlier headline on this article incorrectly stated that First 5 California is urging an increase in the tobacco tax. The agency is considering options but has not endorsed a proposal. Under preliminary consideration are proposals to push state lawmakers to tax “e-cigarettes” or increase existing taxes on tobacco products — and even to snag a share of any tax revenue from legalized marijuana sales if California decides to go that route.
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-tobacco-tax-20141120-story.html#page=1
Lear MoreCigarette smuggling racket exposed
According to SA sources, trucks full of cigarettes worth millions of dollars have been shipped into that country illegally, through official as well as undesignated crossing points, for resale in SA and beyond. Established in 2004 as a locally registered company, Savanna Tobacco, of which Molai is the proprietor, has been manufacturing the Pacific brand of cigarettes targeted at the low end of the market through low pricing.
Lear MoreNAFDAC destroys N100m counterfeit’s drugs in Enugu
NAFDAC said it will continue to fight drug counterfeiting and other related hazardous practices to safeguard the health of Nigerians. The Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhi, who spoke during the destruction exercise at ESWAMA landfill site in Enugu, Enugu State said drug counterfeiting has become a global menace which must not only be halted, but eradicated to restore normalcy to the healthcare delivery sector.
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Up In Smoke: Government Funding Vanishes, Smoking Rates Rise
After years of decline, smoking is on the rise in New York City. While pointing to reductions in state and city spending on anti-smoking campaigns, advocates hope this Thursday, November 20, will be a turning point as smokers in New York and elsewhere are encouraged to decline lighting up for American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout. Anti-smoking groups hope smokers will keep their resolve going after Thursday and bring down New York City’s smoking rate, which crept up from 14 percent in 2010 to 16 percent in 2013 despite bans on smoking in bars, restaurants and other places, and one of the highest taxes on a pack of cigarettes in any municipality.
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Packaging changes may see Limerick shop stub out fag trade
THE proprietor of Limerick’s only dedicated tobacco shop has revealed she might have to stop selling smoke and snuffs to stay in business. Eleanor Purcell, who runs Cahill’s in Wickham Street, says that with an upsurge in smuggled tobacco, and the proposed plain packaging of tobacco, she may have to “let the cigarettes go”. Opened in 1870, Cahill’s sells more than 50 varieties of tobacco and snuff. When legislation came outlawing the display of tobacco products, Cahill’s was one of just four shops in Ireland which secured a derogation to allow the display.
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More like FAKE-book: How nearly a quarter of fashion and luxury ads on the social media website hawk counterfeits
A new study has revealed that a quarter of ads for luxury goods shown on Facebook are selling counterfeit products. The study was conducted by Italian cyber-security researchers Andrew Stroppa and Agostino Spechhiarello, who analyzed 1,000 ads on Facebook to reach their finding – and urged the social network to do do more to protect consumers.
According to Bloomberg, 24per cent of the fashion and luxury ads on Facebook hawk fake goods, even though the social media website claims it is making a conscious effort to try to remove these ads.
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Revealed: the £2m illegal tobacco baron from Rochdale on Crimestopper’s Most Wanted list
The man behind a £2.2m cigarette smuggling operation has been revealed as one of 10 people from Manchester on the Crimestoppers most wanted list. Ahmed Salim Khezri, from Freehold, Rochdale, is a member of an organised crime group which supplied non-UK duty paid cigarettes at various UK locations. Iranian national Khezri, 24, went on the run but was found guilty in his absence at Manchester Crown Court and sentenced to six years in jail in April 2014. The cost to the taxpayer is estimated to be over £2.2 million.
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Russia bans meat imports from Montenegro on suspicion of smuggling from EU
Meat product deliveries from Montenegro have risen significantly lately, in volumes which the country could not produce by itself, assistant to the Rosselkhoznadzor head Alexey Alexeyenko said.
The Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has banned the imports of meat products from Montenegro over suspected attempts to smuggle products from the EU, assistant to the Rosselkhoznadzor head Alexey Alexeyenko said on Tuesday. “Illegal re-exports of meat products from European Union countries are the main cause for the ban,” he said. “Meat product deliveries from Montenegro have risen significantly lately, in volumes which the country could not produce by itself,” the assistant to the Rosselkhoznadzor head said.
http://en.itar-tass.com/economy/760285
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