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Monthly Archives: April 2011
Only 5% of Contraband Cigarettes Seized
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Editors Note: From CRE Brazil
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| Federal Revenue Specialists estimate that less than 5% of contraband cigarettes to Brazil are seized. Just to have an idea of the amount of illegal products that come into the country, in 2009 the government destroyed 78 million packs. And boxes of cigarettes represent 40% of the total number of contraband articles collected by inspectors.
Specialists estimate that cigarette smuggling is connected to drug trafficking. Many times, on the same road or bus coming from Paraguay, police find cigarette boxes and tablets of marijuana. “It’s organized crime. The group has a logistic distribution throughout the country’s roads and spreads this product out there,” said the Director of the Brazilian Association to Combat Counterfeiting (ABCF), Fernando Ramazzini, in an interview with the weekly magazine, IstoÉ. |
Illegal tobacco trade ‘declining’
From: Irish Examiner
New figures from the tobacco industry show the illegal tobacco trade in Ireland is on the decline.
A study published today by tobacco manufacturers JTI Ireland Ltd shows that last year approximately 24% of all tobacco consumed in Ireland evaded Irish excise duty.
The figure represents a 27% decrease from the number of illegal cigarettes consumed in 2009.
The decline is being attributed to the Government’s decision not to increase excise duty on tobacco in two consecutive budgets.
Meanwhile separate data published by the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee (ITMAC) revealed that the north-east of the country topped the figures of illegal cigarette seizures in 2010.
Lab results shed light on shocking contents of fake fags
Illicit cigarettes an ‘unhealthy cocktail’
From: The Evening Telegraph
Published on Tuesday 26 April 2011 04:30
SMOKERS are being warned that smuggled cigarettes could contain a “seriously unhealthy” cocktail of chemicals – much worse than a normal cigarette.
Illicit cigarettes, thousands of which have been unearthed by customs officers on the shelves of shops in Peterborough, are hard to spot as they are “expertly packaged” by criminals.
A spokeswoman for HM Revenue and Customs said: “Smuggled and fake cigarettes can often seem like an attractive offer.
Local man faces charges for counterfeit tax stamp cigarettes
From: NorthJersey.com
BY KRISTIE CATTAFI
Community News (Garfield Edition)
STAFF WRITER
A Garfield man was arrested for distribution of counterfeit New Jersey tax stamped cigarettes and possession of counterfeit New Jersey tax stamped cigarettes on March 30.
Piotr Ligmanowski, 35, was arrested as a result of a two-month long investigation by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office’s White Collar Crime Unit under the direction of Chief Steven Cucciniello, the Garfield Police Department, under the direction of Chief Kevin Amos, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Newark Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent In Charge Matthew Horace, and the New Jersey Department of Treasury Division of Taxation Office of Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent In Charge Charles Giblin.
Members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, White Collar Crime Unit developed information regarding the illegal sale of cigarettes bearing a counterfeit State of New Jersey tax stamp. Ligmanowski was found in possession of 59 cartons of cigarettes bearing a counterfeit New Jersey tax stamp. As a result a search warrant was executed at his residence located on Chestnut Street in Garfield, resulting in numerous other cartons from various domestic states being seized as well as a sum of money.
Ligmanowski was taken into custody in a parking lot at a retail store located in Garfield. The sale of these counterfeit cigarettes represents a loss in tax revenue for the State of New Jersey.
Ligmanowski was charged with distribution of counterfeit New Jersey tax stamped cigarettes, possession of counterfeit New Jersey tax stamped cigarettes, both crimes of the third degree. Ligmanowski was arrested and sent to Bergen County jail with bail set at $50,000 with no 10-percent option.
Illegal smokes a threat – RCMP
By MICHAEL STAPLES
staples.michael@dailygleaner.com
People intent on purchasing contraband tobacco making its way into New Brunswick from Quebec and Ontario could be in danger, say RCMP.
Cpl. Robert Fullerton of RCMP J Division’s customs and excise unit said smokers are being exposed to the unknown.
“Certainly they (cigarettes) are cancer-causing, everybody knows that,” Fullerton said.
“The problem with these cigarettes is that you literally don’t know what you are buying. You are buying from individuals who are there to make a profit, and a profit only, and they don’t care what they put in there.”
Ontario’s New Illegal Cigarette Laws Insufficient For Curbing Smuggling: Groups
Submitted by Marina Dimova VisitBulgaria.info
The proposed changes to Ontario’s laws regarding illegal cigarettes may be a step in the right direction, however, anti-smoking groups believes the province needs to focus on manufacturers to really control smuggling.
The new legislation proposes fining people between $100 and $500 if they are found carrying small quantities of illegal cigarettes. A fine of around $175 in fees and taxes would be imposed on someone caught with less than 200 illegal cigarettes.
According to Sophia Aggelonitis, Revenue Minister, illegal tobacco is a complicated issue, which is multi-ministerial and multi-jurisdictional.
Fenland car booters warned urged to be on lookout for counterfeit cigarettes and alcohol
From: Cambs Times 24
VISITORS to Easter car boot sales across Fenland have been urged by HM Revenue & Customs to be on the lookout for traders selling counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes and alcohol.
Counterfeit car boot cigarettes.Expertly crafted packaging makes it almost impossible to spot whether ‘bargain priced’ tobacco and alcohol products are counterfeit.
Of all the large cigarette seizures HMRC made last year around half were found to be counterfeit. They are not genuine cigarettes brought back from holiday but were probably made in back-street or underground factories across the world and their manufacture and sale is unlicensed and unregulated.
Violent criminals expand into cigarettes
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A recent wave of state tobacco tax increases, designed to pump revenue into cash-strapped local governments, is inspiring an increasingly dangerous cigarette smuggling industry where big profits lure violent criminal gangs and drug traffickers into the booming illegal market, according to law enforcement officials and court records.
Plain packaging may require up to $3.4 billion taxpayer gift annually to big tobacco and film companies
Bad anti-intellectual property laws by State and Federal Parliaments could require taxpayers to gift up to $3.4 billion per year in compensation to film companies and big tobacco for the loss of their trademarks”, Director of the IP and Free Trade Unit at the Institute of Public Affairs, Tim Wilson, said today.
Mr Wilson’s comments follow the release of a new IPA report, Governing in ignorance: Australian governments legislating, without understanding, intellectual property, released today for World Intellectual Property Day.
