Greek Antiquities Among 3,500 Illegally Obtained Objects Confiscated.
International authorities confiscated over 3,500 illegally obtained antiquities across Europe, including four objects of historical value in Greece.
Under operation “Pandora” that took place across Europe and investigates the illicit trade in antiquities, over 3,500 have been confiscated. The operation was carried out by police authorities from 18 European Union member states, UNESCO, the World Customs Organization, Europol and Interpol.
Operation Pandora began in October and ended in December. Its aim was to crack down on trafficking in Europe of antiquities from the Syria and Iraq war zones. The division of Greek police involved in illicit trade in antiquities participated in the operation. According to Europol data, 3,561 ancient objects were confiscated and 75 people were arrested. A total of 29,340 vehicles and 50 ships were searched. Over 500 objects were found in Murcia, Spain, stolen from the city museum.
In Greece, authorities found an Ottoman tombstone, a Byzantine icon of Saint George and two more Byzantine objects of great historical value. The antiquities were found in the possession of a Thessaloniki businessman.
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Socio-economic Impact of Illicit Trade Smugglers switching over to low-risk, high-reward goods like cigarettes and fabric/silk yarn – FICCI report.
FICCI CASCADE (Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy) in association with the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Tax and Narcotics, (NACIN) organized a capacity building programme on the ‘Socio-Economic Impact of Illicit Trade’ on September 26 at NACIN, Faridabad. The objective was to sensitize officers of Indian Revenue Service on the ill effects of illicit trade.
Ms. Reena Arya, Additional Director General, NACIN, Chief Guest at the programme, stated that illicit trade was a global problem of enormous scale, impacting human lives and virtually every industry sector around the world. India was no exception, suffering significant economic and health & safety consequences as a result of widespread smuggling and counterfeiting in the country.
‘India suffering significant economic consequences due to smuggling’.
India is suffering significant economic, health and safety consequences as a result of widespread smuggling and counterfeiting in the country, said a senior government official on Tuesday.
“Illicit trade is a global problem of enormous scale, impacting human lives and virtually every industry sector around the world — and India is no exception. It is suffering significant economic and health and safety consequences as a result of widespread smuggling and counterfeiting in the country,” said Reena Arya, Additional Director General of the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Tax and Narcotics (NACIN).
Arya was speaking at a capacity building programme organised by NACIN and FICCI’s Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities (CASCADE).
As per FICCI’s CASCADE report, the total loss to thegovernment on account of illicit markets in just seven manufacturing sectors is Rs 39,239 crore in 2014.
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Almost two million cigarettes seized in Brisbane after massive Border Force sting
ALMOST Two million illegal cigarettes were seized in Brisbane this week in a massive Australian Border Force sting.
On Sunday, an airfreight consignment was examined by ABF officers after arriving into Brisbane.
There were allegedly 1,975,400 cigarettes in boxes inside, that had been falsely declared as dehumidifiers. A further delivery took place on Wednesday at a storage facility in a South Brisbane suburb, where four adults, three men and one woman, were arrested.
The group faced Cleveland Magistrates Court yesterday, the ABF said. The group was charged with tobacco smuggling offences under the Customs Act 1901. ABF Acting Superintendent Robert Ansell said illicit tobacco can be sold at more than 60 times its offshore price
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Fake Goods Valued At $65m Seized By Customs In Less Than Two Years
Approximately $65 million worth of infringing products were successfully forfeited and disposed of by the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA), acting on behalf of brand-holders, for the period January 2016 to September 2017.
Velma Ricketts Walker, the commissioner of Customs, told The Gleaner that backpacks/bags represented approximately $43 million of the total and that the effect of the importation of fake goods could be catastrophic for the country’s fragile economy.
“The threat of international property rights infringement must not be seen as a victimless crime. It can have serious negative effect on the country’s economic growth, impacting of course, the gross domestic product (GDP),” said Ricketts Walker.
“These items, not being the original goods, are cheaper, but could prove disastrous to GDP,” Ricketts Walker added.
She said an additional $500 million worth of goods was seized and is to be disposed of, which points to the tough job Customs has in cracking down on the importation of counterfeit products.
Lear MoreCigarettes, gold most smuggled items in Gujarat
Ahmedabad: Estimates by officials of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) – Ahmedabad Zonal Unit, indicate that cigarettes and gold are among the highest smuggled commodities in Gujarat. “While some 80 lakh sticks of cigarettes were smuggled in Gujarat from April to July, about 110kg gold was smuggled in the same period. The risk and investment involved in smuggling of cigarette is lesser than what it is for gold,” said Arvind Kumar Chaurasia, deputy director, DRI – Ahmedabad Zonal Unit.
Smuggling of cigarettes yields higher profits than what is earned in gold, said Chaurasia. He was present at a seminar and panel discussion on ‘Combating Counterfeiting and Smuggling – An Imperative to Accelerate Economic Development’, organized in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Disparity in taxes and prices of the same commodities usually leads to increase in smuggling. Among other items being smuggled into Gujarat, include Red Sanders, diamond powder and pharmaceuticals.
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Customs and Border Police Officers Prevented an Attempt for Smuggling of 1,551 boxes Cigarettes
A joint check by customs and border police officers prevented an attempt for smuggling of 1,551 boxes (31, 020 pieces) of cigarettes, reported the Bulgarian National Television.
On the “Incoming Cars and Buses” lane at Kapitan Andreevo Border crossing, a “Mercedes Benz” minibus with an Iraqi registration arrived from Turkey. It was travelling to England. The passengers were a family with four children. The adult passengers told the customsauthorities that they did not carry goods for declaring.
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12,000 pairs of fake branded shoes seized
CHENNAI: The next time a local trader in the city offers a 75% or a 90% discount on shoes of foreign brands, he might well be selling fake Chinese goods.
The Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (SIIB) of Chennai Seaport Customs recently made a big seizure of such counterfeit shoes. In all, 12,000 pairs worth approximately Rs 3.5 crore were confiscated from a container that came from China.
Such consignments have been regularly making their way into Chennai through the sea-port. The importers mis-declare them as ‘unbranded ladies purse’, car hanging accessories and porcelain tiles. The shoes are of popular brands like Adidas, Nike and Reebok.
It is difficult for the customer to ascertain the genuineness of the goods as the manufacturers print a fake unique product code (UPC), similar to the ones the original shoes have.
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Vietnam seizes Apple gadgets smuggled from US, gold from Thailand
20 kilos of suspected gold was hid on a flight from Bangkok to Hanoi while the Apple package was sent to Saigon via post.
Customs officers in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday said they had just seized the largest postal package of iPhones and iPads smuggled from the U.S. The shipment included 144 smartphones and tablets, most of them new and of the latest versions.
It was labeled as non-commercial package and declared to contain computer mouses and keyboards, the officers said, as cited by local media. The recipient has been identified as a resident in District 1 in the city downtown.
Also on Friday, more than 20 kilograms of what was suspected as gold from a Bangkok flight was seized at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi.
Lear MoreLeading global players join FICCI CASCADE in addressing the global threat of illicit trade
Leading international institutions like World Customs Organization (WCO), INTERPOL, United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) and US Homeland Security will represent at FICCI CASCADE’s [Committee against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Destroying the Economy] 4th edition of its flagship annual international event titled under the title: MASCRADE 2017–Movement Against Smuggling and Counterfeit Trade scheduled on 12- 13 October 2017 in New Delhi. This year, the theme of the conference is ‘Protect Your Brand Globally: Fight Counterfeiting, Smuggling and Piracy’.
The market for contraband, smuggled and counterfeit goods is thriving in India and is today one of the biggest challenges faced by Indian industry. India today has the potential to become a global manufacturing hub. However, widespread smuggling, counterfeiting and piracy, can act as a dampener in achieving this goal.
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