Illegal liquor worth Rs 12 lakh seized, 2 held
PRAYAGRAJ: A joint team of Jethwara police and crime branch on Monday claimed to have busted a racket involved in the smuggling of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) and country-made liquor near Derwa Bazar area and seized 147 cartons of IMFL and 10 cartons of the country made liquor bottles worth Rs 12 lakh.
The police also arrested two men on the charges of smuggling of illegal liquor bottles from Haryana.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abhay Singh and Sunny Srivastava and are residents of Sangipur and Ramgarh Derwa respectively.
Police are also on the lookout for their accomplice identified as Dhirendra Singh alias Bengali, a resident of Kunda who managed to give a slip to police party. SP (Pratapgarh) Anurag Arya said, “A joint team of Jethwara police and crime branch acting upon a specific tip raided a godown located near an English wine shop near Derwa Bazar area where illegal and smuggled liquor from Harayana was stored.”
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Liquor smuggling racket busted, kingpin arrested in Amritsar
A day after the seizure of a huge quantity of country-made liquor from five persons, the Amritsar rural police in a joint operation with the Excise Department have nabbed the kingpin of the racket from Tarn Taran area on Sunday.
He has been identified as Supreet Singh, alias Joti Sekhon, of Nadohar Chowk, Patti. His interrogation further led to the busting of around eight illegal liquor vends in Patti in Tarn Taran, while more recoveries are likely to be made during the further course of investigation, the police claimed.
On Saturday, the rural police had nabbed Lovepreet Singh of Kaler Kalan, Karanpreet Singh of Kaile Kalan, Pehaljit Singh of Ghuman Kalan, Lovepreet Singh of Ghuman Kalan, all residents of Gurdaspur and Baljinder Singh of Patti (Tarn Taran).
According to the police they used to smuggle Indian made foreign liquor (meant for Arunachal Pradesh) via Tarn Taran to Amritsar, Batala and Gurdaspur through link roads. The police recovered 90 boxes of liquor containing 810 litre liquor.
Lear MoreRs 11.5 lakh fake notes printed at home seized, four held in Thane
THANE: Anti-extortion cell of Thane crime branch arrested four people, including a woman, and seized counterfeit currency of the value of nearly Rs 11.5 lakh, police said on Wednesday.
Muzzamil Surve (40), Muzaffar Pawaskar (41), Pravin Parmar (43) and Nasrin Kazi (41) were arrested, said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Laxmikant Patil.
Parmar and Pawaskar, the kingpins, are suspected to have taken up counterfeiting due to lockdown and financial difficulties. Patil said the fake currency was of the denominations of Rs200, Rs500 and Rs2,000. “Acting on a tip-off that some persons were to come to Mumbra to sell the fake currency, a team of AEC of Thane city police crime unit lead by senior inspector Rajkumar Kothmire laid a trap near the petrol pump opposite the railway station on Tuesday and nabbed them when they arrived to dispose of the currency,” Patil told TOI.
Seven mobiles were also seized from the arrested persons, against whom offences under sections 489(a) and 489(C) of Indian Penal Code have been registered with Mumbra police. “During interrogation, the accused said the fake notes were printed on JK Bond paper by Parmar on a scanner-cum-printer at his house with Pawaskar’s help,” Kothmire said.
Lear MoreMaha FDA raids five food units, seizes goods worth Rs 41 lakh.
The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided five establishments dealing in food items, including edible oil, in Thane and Palghar districts and seized goods worth Rs 41.60 lakh for alleged violation of food safety standards, officials said on Sunday.
The raids were conducted by the Thane unit of the FDA on November 12 and 13 on four establishments in Thane district and one in Palghar, they said.
During the pre-Diwali operation, the FDA also destroyed some items that were unfit for human consumption.
“These establishments were found to be violating the FDA rules and regulations,” Joint Commissioner of FDA (Food) Konkan Division, S S Deshmukh, said.
During a raid at a unit in Haloli in Palghar, it was found that the establishment did not have a proper lab for testing cooking oil and it made use of used tins for packing the oil.
Oil worth Rs 8,16,749 was seized during that operation, he said.
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Chennai: 6.9 kg gold worth Rs 3.6 cr seized, 5 arrested including airport janitors
According to Officials, they had maintained a special vigil at the transit area, based on information regarding gold smuggling by a Dubai returnee on flight 6E 8497.
Air Customs officials have busted a smuggling racket that involved five contract staff who were providing housekeeping services at the Airport.
According to Officials, they had maintained a special vigil at the transit area, based on information regarding gold smuggling by a Dubai returnee on flight 6E 8497. On noticing a janitor entering the toilet in the transit area, officials followed him and caught him in the act of retrieving black bundles from a waste bin. On being cut open, three gold paste packets weighing 2 kg were recovered. 1.81 Kg of gold valued at Rs. 93.2 lakhs was recovered, extracted, and seized under Customs Act.
The suspect passenger who had carried the gold from Dubai was intercepted and identified as Sheikhussman,35, a Trichy native. When he received a call from an individual who had come to receive him, officials followed Sheikh to the area outside the airport and nabbed the person who had come to receive the smuggler. He was identified as one Syed Ibrahim Shah,21, of Chennai.
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Counterfeit goods worth Kshs. 100M destroyed in Mombasa
Counterfeit goods worth Kshs 100 million have been destroyed in Changamwe, Mombasa County by a multi-agency team, comprising government agencies and intellectual property owners to curb the illicit trade.
Speaking during the exercise conducted Monday, the Chairperson of Anti Counterfeit Authority, Florah Mutahi said among the counterfeits destroyed included goods meant for the fight against Covid-19 pandemic, valued at Kshs. 25 million confiscated from unscrupulous traders.
The ACA chairperson observed a study carried out recently revealed that electrical goods account for the bigger percentage of counterfeits into the country.
Other contrabands included cables, shoes, clothes, stationery, construction materials, and chemicals, among others.
She observed that the destruction exercise was showcasing that the government is working towards zero tolerance to counterfeits and illegal goods altogether.
https://www.kbc.co.ke/counterfeit-goods-worth-kshs-100m-destroyed/
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Operation Thunder 2020: India Customs intercepts 18 tonnes red sandalwood
The India Customs intercepted an 18-tonne shipment of red sandalwood destined for the United Arab Emirates, during a month-long “Operation Thunder 2020”, coordinated by the Interpol and the World Customs Organisation, which involved law enforcement agencies in 103 countries.
The operation against environmental crime was held from September 14 to October 11. It resulted in large seizures of protected wildlife and forestry specimens and products, triggering arrests and investigations worldwide, said the Interpol. “Focusing on pre-identified routes and hotspots, ‘Operation Thunder 2020’ resulted in more than 2,000 seizures of wildlife and forestry products. In total, 699 offenders were apprehended and at least one Interpol Red Notice has already been requested based on information gained during the operation. Further arrests and prosecutions are anticipated as ongoing global investigations progress,” it said.
The participating countries focused mainly on the species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Mexican law enforcement rescued an adult female white tiger, a jaguar and a four-month old lion cub in Sinaloa. “In Cameroon, customs officers seized 187 raw elephant tusks from a truck crossing the border from Gabon. In total, 56,200 kg of marine products were seized during Operation Thunder 2020,” said the Interpol, adding that the Peruvian police seized a shipment of 11 tonnes of mutilated sharks.
Lear MoreMillions of fake cigarettes and 100kg of illegal tobacco seized as part of crackdown during Covid-19 pandemic.
Almost two million fake cigarettes and more than 100kg of illegal hand rolling tobacco have been seized across Greater Manchester during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The illegal tobacco industry, as well as the world of organised crime which feeds off it, has continued to thrive throughout lockdown.
All tobacco sold locally as ‘duty-free’ will almost certainly be illegal, enforcement officers in the city-region have warned.
But police and local authorities are fighting back to expose the illegal tobacco market in Greater Manchester by acting on intelligence provided by the public.
Between March and October this year trading standards were alerted to 207 reports of fake tobacco being sold across the conurbation.
Subsequent seizures by trading standards officers led to a bountiful haul of illicit goods, including the largest ever single seizure in Greater Manchester.
Lear MoreWest Bengal: Gold biscuits worth Rs 12 crore seized, 3 held
SILIGURI: A joint team of Darjeeling police and excise department arrested three persons with 130 gold biscuits at Chekurmai under Kharibari block on Bengal-Bihar border on Monday.
The haul, weighing over 21kg, is estimated to be worth more than Rs 12 crore.
The accused have been identified as Mumbai residents Shashikant Sankpal (29) and Anil Gumadi (40), and their Siliguri-based car driver Md Afroh. The three will be produced in court on Tuesday.
Darjeeling SP Santosh Nimbalkar said the arrest was made during a “normal nakabandi” on Bengal-Bihar border. “The gold biscuits precisely weigh 21.57kg. Each gold biscuit weighs around 166gm. The accused wi be produced in Siliguri court. Five mobile phones and some cash and documents have also been seized,” he added.
Sources in police said the biscuits had been smuggled into India through the Indo-Myanmarese border and were being taken to Bihar from Assam. The accused had booked a car from Siliguri to Chhapra.
Lear MoreMaharashtra: Counterfeit masks using leading brand’s name major concern for manufacturer; cases, raids in many cities
The issue of counterfeited masks holds public health concern. The masks seized during raids were made of inferior quality cloth with no quality checks to ensure they prevent exposure from virus.
One of India’s leading mask manufacturers Venus Safety and Health Private Ltd has issued at least 38 legal notices during the Covid-19 pandemic to owners of manufacturing units that produce counterfeit masks using the company’s brand name. As demand for masks continues in the pandemic, counterfeiting has remained an issue of concern.
“Everyone is making money in our name. The local manufacturer, distributor and retailer selling the mask,” said Mahesh Kudav, managing director of Venus. The company has registered seven cases where over 47,000 fake masks have been retrieved through police raids, and FIRs have been lodged across Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Mumbai.
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