Curbing the Menace of Illicit Trade and Tobacco Smuggling
Abimbola Akosile examines the tobacco industry in Nigeria, with focus on illicit trade and illegal smuggling of products and government’s attempts to check and regulate a lucrative sector. Someone once told this reporter a simple fact about Nigeria. He said, albeit in a cynical manner, that if one wants any item to flourish in Nigeria’s huge markets, just wait for the government to ban that item.
To back his argument, he pointed at rice, frozen poultry products, and used tyres, which although under the import prohibition list, still daily flow into Nigeria through both monitored and porous borders, generating billions in illicit trade.
Visits to the right markets only serve to buttress the cynic’s position, which only goes to show that although regulation and checks may be in place, no product can actually remain effectively banned in Nigeria. But that is a topic for another day.
Lear More
Consumers warned about counterfeit clothes and scam websites
The internet has a new wave of scam websites causing misery for Irish consumers selling poorly made counterfeit goods that are claimed to be real designer labels for a cheap price. Many young people are eagerly awaiting the start of the Irish debs season so this is the catalyst for the wave of scam clothing sites. The UK European Consumer Centre has released a strong statement advising consumers to be vigilant when ordering fashionable designer clothing online.
Frequently these rogue retailers use credentials that are listed in European countries to add to the professed legitimacy of their site. However, this is often a smoke screen and the businesses were not situated in that country at all. In many cases they were outside the EU completely.
http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1028149.shtml
Lear More
Fake 99p iPhone chargers ‘putting lives at risk
Britons buying dangerous counterfeit iPhone chargers for as little as 99p are risking electrocution or burns, warns London Fire Brigade, which says it is ‘only a matter of time’ before one of them causes a fatal fire. Fake iPhone chargers on sale in the UK could cause fires, electrocutions or burns and are putting lives at risk, warns London Fire Brigade.
The brigade says that the devices have caused “a number of incidents” across the capital, including one in February where one caught fire and set alight to a house in Tottenham.
Experts dismantled and tested various counterfeit chargers which are widely available in Britain in markets and online and found that they had around half as many components inside as genuine Apple chargers.
Lear More
Rare Wine Dealer Sentenced in Counterfeiting Scheme
“The same old wine in a brand new bottle” is a phrase that aptly describes how fraudsters deceive the public in ever-changing ways. It applies perfectly to Rudy Kurniawan’s profitable and long-running counterfeiting scam—except that Kurniawan was putting new wine in old bottles.Earlier this month, a New York federal judge sentenced Kurniawan to a 10-year prison term for his elaborate counterfeiting scheme in which he mixed newer, cheaper wines together and poured them into old bottles with forged labels.When FBI agents executed a search warrant at Kurniawan’s California home in 2012, they found wine-making materials everywhere in plain sight. “Essentially, the entire house was a fake wine-making laboratory,” said Special Agent Adam Roeser, who helped investigate the case out of our New York Division.
Lear More
Police seize counterfeit goods worth £1m in North Manchester raids
Police have seized over £1 million worth of counterfeit goods – including badly-spelled designer brands.Officers raided four shops in north Manchester and found knock-offs including ‘Louis Vitton’ ‘Pacco Rabanne’, ‘Chenelle’ and ‘Jean Paul Gautier’ handbags.
Officers also recovered fake Ugg boots and sunglasses and Mulberry items.The swoops took place on Lockett Street in the Strangeways area on Wednesday.Sgt Andrew Holvey, of the North Manchester Neighbourhood policing team, said: “I would like to thank members of the community for providing us with valuable intelligence which enabled the raids. We are aware this type of crime causes a lot of harm to legitimate businesses and believe this action will be a significant hit to the people that are involved in this type of crime.
Lear More£10 million worth of fake cosmetics seized at Channel Tunnel
Border Force officers at the Channel Tunnel entrance in France have seized around 578 boxes of counterfeit cosmetic gift sets with a potential value of up to £10 million.The seizure was made in the early hours of August 28 as officers carried out checks on a Dutch-registered vehicle en route to a business park in Newcastle-under-Lyme.The Border Force team inspected the load and it soon became clear that the cosmetic sets and their packaging were of inferior quality, so the goods were seized and the investigation has been passed to Kent County Council (KCC) Trading Standards.
Paul Morgan, Director of Border Force South East and Europe said: “I would like to praise my officers for their vigilance in identifying these fakes.
Lear More
LVMH, Google unite against fake online luxury goods
PARIS: French luxury products group LVMH and Internet search engine Google have agreed to work together to fight the sale of counterfeit goods online, the two firms said on Thursday.
The agreement ends nearly 10 years of litigation over complaints by LVMH – owner of top luxury labels in everything from champagne to luggage – that the Google Adwords key words service helped counterfeiters sell their products on the back of LVMH brands.
Lear More
Philippines wages war on crooked customs agents
MANILA, September 3, 2014 (AFP) – Standing near mountains of goods destined to be smuggled through the Philippines’ biggest port, the nation’s customs chief admits that being on the frontline of the president’s war on graft is overwhelming.”I’ve never seen anything like it,” John Sevilla said, commenting on a pervasive culture of bribery, extortion and stealing at a government agency that collects revenues equivalent to 20 percent of the nation’s budget.”There’s no secret about the fact that this is not an agency which inspires a lot of trust and confidence among our people.”But Sevilla, a former Goldman Sachs executive, has bold plans for systemic change that are showing early signs of success.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/4144/philippines-wages-war-on-crooked-customs-agents/
Lear More
Brief: UK shopkeeper jailed for selling fake washing powder
Washing powderA UK man has been sent to prison for 18 months after being found guilty of selling counterfeit washing powder, shampoo and conditioner from his shop in Leyton, London.Ali Riza Bozdag was also ordered to pay £5,000-worth of legal costs and also faces a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) confiscation order which will be decided at a later date, reports the East London and West Essex Guardian.Bozdag’s activities were discovered after customs intercepted 2,640 8kg boxes of fake washing powder en route to his business premises.
Lear More
European operation smashes fake medicines ring
Eurojust and Europol logosPolice from several European countries have seized millions of fake medicines, mainly erectile dysfunction drugs, worth an estimated €10m.The one-day operation – spearheaded by Europol and EU judicial unit Eurojust and involving police forces from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and the UK – also resulted in 12 arrests and the seizure of more than €7.5m in cash, bank accounts and assets such as cars.
The raids marked the culmination of an investigation first started back in 2012 that targeted a particular organised crime network deeply involved in the fake medicines trade in Europe. The counterfeit medicines targeted by the operation were imported into the EU from Asia and contain “incorrect dosages and ingredients which pose a serious health hazard”.
Lear More