Belarusian government agencies involved in smuggling apples to Russia
Russia’s agricultural watchdog Rosselkhhoznadzor revealed new smuggling schemes through Belarus.
Russia continues to receive banned EU products, charter97.org learnt from Rosselkhoznadzor (the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance).
The agency revealed new illegal schemes of delivering banned EU fruit and vegetable to Russia. The products that were to be delivered from Belarus to Kazakhstan through Russia were sold in Russia. The Main State Inspection on Seed Farming, Quarantine and Plant Protection of Belarus was involved in the scheme.
http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2014/10/29/123276/
Lear MoreChinese artists create counterfeit stock images of artists
Stock Photos are glorious things. Yes, they’re an important tool for sites such as our own, but they’re also, perhaps more often than not, unintentionally hilarious. Services like Thinkstock, Shutterstock and Getty Images have birthed fantastic Tumblrs and Twitter accounts like StockFinds, Completely Unusable Stock Photos, and the somewhat-NSFW Porncomnents. They’re solidly embedded in internet culture, and they’re now also the inspiration behind A Contemporary Portrait of the Internet Artist, a collection of hand-painted copies of stock images of artists created by “underpaid Chinese painters.” The artworks are essentially counterfeits of Getty Images, and in an accompanying press release the team behind the project — the IOCOSE collective — explains the methodology by which they were created will be naturally replicated.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/chinese-artists-create-counterfeit-stock-images-of-artists/
Lear MoreEast Africa: Philips to Launch Sms Platform to Curb Counterfeit Products
Philips is setting up an SMS platform in a week’s time that will help consumers with the authentication of the Philips Lighting portfolio in case of doubt.
Once the platform is activated, the consumer (in Kenya) will have to send the 16-digit serial number of the lighting product via SMS to 20222 and they will then receive immediate feedback on whether the product they are planning to buy or have bought is genuine or fake. This is a pilot and if successful, Philips will explore rolling it out to the consumer lifestyle product categories.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201410300209.html
Lear MoreHOMAI re-launched as ASPA, resolves to fight counterfeiting
Hologram Manufacturers Association of India (HOMAI), which was founded in 1998 to represent holographic industry in India, has now been re-launched with a broader mandate as Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA).
Speaking to PrintWeek India, Manoj Kochar, president, ASPA , said, “As we integrated holograms into packaging products and went onto create ancillaries which incorporated anti-counterfeit properties of the hologram, the concept of authentication solution provider emerged. We saw ourselves as an authentication solution provider.”
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TFWA workshop tackles the fight against counterfeit
The Tax Free World Association has joined forces with French manufacturers’ union Unifab to discuss the growing threat of counterfeit goods to the duty-free and travel-retail industry at the 30th annual TFWA World Exhibition and Conference. Unifab vice-presidents Maître Emmanuelle Hoffman and Philippe Lacoste joined Nestor Martinez-Aguado, responsible for intellectual property at the French Foreign Ministry, to speak at a working lunch today at the Majestic Hotel in Cannes.
Hoffman outlined the growing threat of the illegal manufacturing of counterfeit goods pointing out that last year 36m fake products were seized in Europe, while internationally, that figure was a whopping 3bn.
http://www.dfnionline.com/lead-stories/tfwa-workshop-tackles-fight-counterfeit-28-10-2014/
Lear MoreBelarus welcomes Lithuania’s decision to tighten border controls
MINSK, 28 October (BelTA) – The State Border Committee of Belarus supports the decision of Lithuania to tighten controls on the state border due to increased smuggling activity, BelTA learned from spokesman for the Belarusian border agency Alexander Tishchenko.
“This is a normal practice to ensure the security of the state in every country. Similar actions have been conducted by Belarus. Belarus takes every effort to prevent smuggling and other offences on the state border,” said Alexander Tishchenko.
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HMRC officers swoop on Edmonton cigarette smuggling handover
Two men have been sentenced for their part in a plot to smuggle almost 600,000 cigarettes, worth an estimated £160,000 into the UK. Student Alan Salih, 33, of Bounces Road, Edmonton, and delivery driver Karzan Ahmedi, of Brighton, were sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court.
The pair met in Edmonton, where they drove to a residential street and parked their vehicles back-to-back with the rear doors open.
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs officers intercepted the pair and found almost 600,000 cigarettes in the vans.
http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/11562478.Pair_sentence_for_smuggling_600_000_cigarettes/
Lear MoreTurkish citizen sentenced in St. Louis to 27 months in federal prison for cancer-drug fraud
ST. LOUIS — A Turkish citizen has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for smuggling counterfeit and adulterated cancer treatment drugs into the United States.
Ozkan Semizoglu of Istanbul was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. He pleaded guilty in July to smuggling three shipments of phony and tainted prescription drugs from Turkey to the St. Louis County suburb of Chesterfield. The drugs were labeled as “gifts” or “documents” to conceal their identity.
Lear More37 arrested this year for selling contraband cigarettes within HDB estates
There has been an increase in the number of offenders caught for storing contraband cigarettes in their flats and selling the cigarettes to other residents, according to customs authorities.
An increasing number of offenders have been caught for storing contraband cigarettes in their HDB flats and selling these duty-unpaid cigarettes to residents in the neighbourhood, customs authorities said on Tuesday (Oct 28).
In the first nine months of this year, 37 such offenders were arrested, Singapore Customs said, adding that it has since stepped up enforcement efforts to clamp down on such illegal activities.
Lear MoreBulgarian jailed for smuggling 180,000 cigarettes
October 27, 2014 | Dover-express
A VAN driver who smuggled almost 180,000 cigarettes through Dover has been jailed for two years.
Valentin Ivanov’s van was stopped by Border Force officers at Dover in September 2014. A search of the vehicle uncovered the 179,600 smuggled cigarettes hidden in the back of the van. The duty and VAT evaded on the haul was £41,747.12.
Ivanov pleaded guilty to smuggling the cigarettes into the UK and was jailed for two years at Maidstone Crown Court on October 21.
Upon sentencing, His Honour Judge Joy said that was Ivanov was a very dishonest man.
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