Fake Knorr, Maggi, cigarettes confiscated by BOC
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) within a month scored its third haul of fake and illegally imported goods. Its latest seizure was counterfeit Knorr and Maggi food seasoning items and Nescafe products that were found in a Manila warehouse. “Through the help of its assets from the private sector, the bureau’s Intelligence Group has once again caused the seizure of these illegally imported goods,” said Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon. In the warehouse, Customs authorities also confiscated smuggled Marlboro, Winston and Fortune cigarettes. These were all fake goods from China. Customs authorities placed the total value of the illegally imported items at P30 million.
“This definitely is a big boost to the local business industry. Otherwise, had these illegally imported goods been able to get to the local market, it could have affected the local tobacco industry and business,” Biazon said.
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CBP, French Customs Seize Critical Counterfeit Electronic Components
In partnership with French Customs, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently completed Operation Core Systems, a bilateral intellectual property rights enforcement operation that targeted counterfeit critical computer and other electronic components, including semiconductors, computer networking equipment, hard drives, and memory cards, which are a threat to both the U.S. and France. Conducted from Nov. 1, 2012 through April 30, the operation resulted in the seizure of 480 shipments of potentially harmful counterfeit electronic components. “CBP is proud to work with our French Customs partners on such an important issue,” said CBP Assistant Commissioner Al Gina. “Intellectual property rights violations have the potential to cause great harm to our country’s economy as well as the American public’s health and safety. Building these types of international partnerships will continue to become increasingly important to facilitating a safe and secure flow of trade.” “The Core Systems operation gave us a better understanding of the global threat presented by counterfeit critical electronic components, the opportunity to cooperate with the right holders, and to make significant seizures,” said François Richard, French Customs Attaché in Washington D.C. “It is the third bilateral IPR enforcement operation organized by our two agencies, and for sure not the last.”
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Spurious liquor claims 4 lives in Sultanpur district
Celebratory drinking claimed four lives in Sultanpur district on Friday four people from the groom’s side, including his father, died after consuming spurious liquor. In another incident that was reported from a village in Amethi district, ten people had lost their lives after consuming illicit liquor on May 8. Ramnarayan Dhuria, a resident of Shrirampur Lamoli village in Sultanpur had organised his daughter’s wedding at the village on Friday. 55-year-old Mastram Dhuria, father of the groom, along with several others arrived at the Sultanpur village from Ambedkar Nagar district. Ramnarayan served two bottles including a branded whisky bottle to Mastram, Ramchandra Verma (30), Indrajeet Verma (35) and Rajendra (28). The group had consumed one bottle when they started feeling uneasy. The liquor was apparently spiked with some dangerous chemicals locally. The condition of the group started deteriorating and three members were rushed to a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, Indrajeet said he was sick and decided to sleep at the village as he felt dizzy. The three died at the hospital while undergoing treatment while Indrajeet was found dead in the morning. Senior officials from district administration, excise department and Sultanpur police visited the village on Saturday. The officials took the whisky bottles in custody and sent the bodies for autopsy. The incident took place under the jurisdiction of Motipur police station and owner of the store that sold the liquor to Ramnarayan as well as persons responsible for manufacturing of the illicit liquor will be booked, said police. In the Amethi incident, 10 persons died after consuming illicit country liquor during a local event at Miyan Ka Purwa village. Several including the manufacturer and supplier were arrested subsequently.
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Counterfeit baseball caps at center of federal investigation
Federal agents are investigating a case of counterfeit baseball hats coming from Hong Kong into the U.S. through the Port of Milwaukee. And the suspect, Darvin Moore, is no stranger to investigators. Moore, 39, was convicted in 2004 on two counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods and received five months behind bars. Moore is named as the suspect in a scheme to traffic in counterfeit baseball hats, according to a search warrant unsealed in federal court in Milwaukee recently. Moore could not be reached for comment. He is not charged in the current case. According to the search warrant by an agent from the Department of Homeland Security, more than 500 counterfeit baseball hats were seized at the Port of Milwaukee in April and May of last year. They bore the logos of teams from the NBA, NFL and other professional leagues. The hats were from Hong Kong and supposed to be delivered to “Dravin Moore” in Milwaukee, before they were intercepted. The agents flagged the packages because they came from a sender known to deal in counterfeit goods, according to the warrant. One of the shipments was scheduled to go to William Spanos, of Iron River, Mich. Contacted recently, Spanos said he ordered the hats over the Internet after receiving an online solicitation.
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P25-M counterfeit drugs seized
A container van loaded with P25 million worth of fake medicines was confiscated by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) at the Manila International Container Port (MICP). Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said there were 20 pallets of counterfeit medicines found inside the 40-footer container van consigned to Mountain Glory Agri Sales Corp. These medicines bear the brands like Simvastatin, Centrum Multivitamins, Perigo (Ibuprofen), and Amoxycillin, among others. He said the consignee is not accredited by the Food and Drugs Administration to import medicines, thus making its operations illegal. “It has no license,” Biazon said as he personally inspected the illegally imported goods at the Manila port. The commissioner said that Mountain Glory is answerable for violation of R.A. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Rights Law in relation to R.A. 9711 or the Food and Drugs Administration Law. Personnel of the Customs Intellectual Property Rights Division (IPRD) got suspicious over the shipment when they noticed that the counterfeit medicines were stored in a “dry” container van with no temperature control and they were right on the dot. Lawyer Zsae Carrie De Guzman, head of the IPRD, said the seized medicines were either about to expire, if not fit for human consumption. This was the second time in May that the BOC-IPRD has confiscated counterfeit items entering the ports.
Recently, they raided two storage facilities in Tondo, Manila based on the Letter of Authority issued by Biazon. Seized were 272 boxes containing 100 reams per box of Marlboro cigarettes, 30 boxes with 50 reams of Marlboro cigarettes per box, 10 boxes of Winston cigarettes, and 11 boxes of Fortune cigarettes. Included were 432 boxes of Knorr Sinigang Mix and 23 boxes of Maggi Magic Sarap. These goods were illegally imported from China and worth P25 million.
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Turks distributing fake liquor to Russians get 90-year jail
Four Turkish nationals were sentenced Monday to 90 years in prison after they were found guilty of lethal poisoning a group of Russian tourists in 2011, a lawyer said. Some 20 Russian tourists were hospitalized with severe alcohol poisoning in Bodrum in late May on their return from a sailing tour organised by a local company. Four of them died in Turkish hospitals, while another victim died later at a Moscow hospital. The lawyer, who represented the interests of a husband of one of the deceased tourists, said all four Turks were involved in production and distribution of fake alcohol. He also said that the owner of the yacht and two more organizers of the sailing tour were sentenced each to seven years in prison. The Turkish Ministry of Agriculture said in an official statement after the incident in 2011 that the methyl alcohol content in the fake whiskey, called Mister Burdon, was three times higher than normal. According to Turkish officials, a company called Jasmine imported the fake whiskey into Turkey from northern Cyprus. Some 12,000 bottles of the bogus whiskey were sold at local markets.
http://news.oneindia.in/2013/05/21/90-year-jail-for-turks-who-poisoned-russians-1221264.html
Lear MoreNewport News police charge man with possession of counterfeit DVDs
A 27-year-old Newport News man was arrested and charged Sunday after police say he was in possession of counterfeit DVDs. William T. Cofield was charged with selling a record without the owner’s consent, having a record with no manufacturers name on it and trespassing, according to Newport News City Jail records. At about 11 a.m. Sunday, a police officer sitting in an unmarked car saw a man pull out a stack of plain white covered DVDS for two people in the 2300 block of Jefferson Avenue, according to a Newport News Police Department news release.
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Russia: Chanel Sweatshop Dismantled, Over 7,200 Counterfeit Shoes Recovered
Russian interior ministry officers busted an underground sweatshop where more than 100 Chinese citizens produced counterfeit Chanel shoes in deplorable conditions, Just Media reported on Monday. The sweatshop, allegedly operated by an Armenian crime group, was located in the Sverdlovsk region near Yekaterinburg, in central Russia. Health and safety standards as well as working conditions were all below legal standards. The factory reeked of chemicals, and chemical waste was allegedly dumped directly into a nearby river, Just Media reported. The workers lived in an on-site barracks, and their actions and movements were watched and controlled. During the raid on the premises, authorities recovered over 3,600 pairs of counterfeit shoes branded as Chanel footwear. Chanel has been contacted by authorities, and samples of the counterfeits have been sent for comparison and analysis, Just Media reported. According to Chanel, the original shoes retail for around $800, meaning the counterfeits discovered during the raid alone could have cost the company as much $280,000 dollars in lost revenue.
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Chinese police destroy £ 21m of counterfeit designer goods
Chinese police destroyed £21 million of counterfeit designer goods on Thursday in a lavish publicity stunt aimed at showing the world they are cracking down on the illegal trade. Fake wine, cigarettes, handbags and cosmetics were all thrown on a fire in Guiyang, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. But authorities have a long way to go – a recent UN report revealed a staggering 75 percent of all fake goods seized worldwide from 2008 to 2010 were primarily from China. The World Customs Organization also said the booming industry accounts for some two percent of world trade despite it being considered a ‘soft’ form of crime. The UN report stated that counterfeit goods accounted for one third of the organised crime in East Asia and the Pacific is worth approximately $ 90 billion. Most counterfeits fall into four categories: CDs and DVDs; accessories, watches and footwear; tobacco products; and textiles.
Counterfeit commerce over the Internet has soared in the past couple of years, turning what had been an irritant to businesses into a serious competitive threat. Last year an entire city in China literally shut up shop when nearly all of its stores closed after it was falsely reported that officials were planning a clampdown on the sale of counterfeit products. Officials in Shenyang city were forced to beg store owners to reopen after 95 percent of shops remained closed. The online rumour sparked fears that the local council needed to get more revenue and had ordered taxmen to come down hard on shop owners.
Western countries have often complained China is woefully behind in its effort to stamp out the trade, although it has started to crack down. In November police arrested 73 people suspected of manufacturing and selling almost 1 million fake luxury bags in China.
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Nigeria: NAFDAC Arrests Businessman for Importing Counterfeit Medicines
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that it had arrested and investigated Mr. Olisaemeka Osefoh for importation of counterfeit medicines worth N106, 210, 000, into the country. The agency’s Director General, Dr. Paul Orhii, who disclosed this at a press conference, said, following a tip-off, operatives from NAFDAC investigation and enforcement directorate raided a warehouse located at Progressive Traders Market known for the sales of jewelleries and cosmetic products, within Trade Fair Complex, Badagry Expressway, Lagos. According to the DG the products were deliberately packed in plain cartons and wrapped in sacks to conceal their real identities, stressing that of note is that the Mycoten cream and Neurogesic ointment were labelled as manufactured in Nigeria, although they were imported. He said the culprit had been interrogated and his statement taken and had confessed being in business with a cartel based in China where the products were sourced and stored in their warehouse before being shipped to Nigeria. He added that he had also given investigators information on how the medicines were illegally cleared through Tincan Island Port, Lagos. Orhii said recent discovery has revealed that the drug counterfeiters now operate from markets that deal on other commodities so as not to draw the attention of law enforcement agencies on their nefarious activities. “However, I want to reiterate that there will be no sacred cow in the fight against counterfeit medicines, any counterfeiter arrested will be prosecuted according to the law of the land,” he said. He therefore appealed to members of the public, landlords and market unions to report any suspicious activity relating to NAFDAC-regulated products around their community to the nearest NAFDAC office for immediate action and see it as part of their contribution in the fight against counterfeit and fake products. Orhii also assured Nigerians that the agency is working closely with the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria to track down the criminal company in China who connived with the suspect (Osefoh), to ship into the country the counterfeit medicines.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201305161173.html
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