Suspended sentence for involvement in £110,000 tobacco smuggling operation
A local man and a juvenile have been sentenced to three months in prison, suspended for a year, for being involved in a £110,000 illegal tobacco operation.
19-year-old Shane Soiza and a 16-year-old co-defendant were also fined £1,500 each. Their lawyers described the defendants as “foot soldiers”, hired to wrap the tobacco cartoans ready for exportation.
The RGP seized the tobacco from a store within Francis Building in February.
http://www.gbc.gi/news/suspended-sentence-involvement-110000-tobacco-smuggling-operation-31896
Lear More
Spain claims Gibraltar derives £150m from tobacco smuggling
Nearly a third of Gibraltar’s income is derived from tobacco smuggling, according to the Spanish tax authorities. Hacienda’s special representative in Andalucía claimed in a Canal Sur interview that more than 150 million of Gibraltar’s 500 million pounds Budget originates from the illicit tobacco trade. He said this sum is sufficient to pay for the Rock’s health and education needs.
Alberto García Valera said that, regrettably, Gibraltar is a tax haven for Spain. While acknowledging that Gibraltar adheres to EU rules governing the exchange of tax information, he alleged that Spanish requests for such information are not fully satisfied. He added that it would be desirable for there to be maximum co-operation from Gibraltar, and for the tax system here to be more like those in the rest of the European Union.
http://www.gbc.gi/news/spain-claims-gibraltar-derives-150m-tobacco-smuggling-31892
Lear More
Fake oregano being sold in Australia
CUSTOMERS are getting ripped off with less than half of dried oregano products on supermarket shelves consisting of 100 per cent oregano, a consumer group says. Choice says it tested samples of 12 oregano products and found seven of them adulterated with olive and sumac leaves.
MasterFoods, Woolworths Select, Coles, McCormick and Herbies Spices were the only brands containing 100 per cent oregano leaves. Olive leaves and other ingredients were found in Aldi’s Stonemill product, Master of Spices, Hoyt’s, Spice & Co, Menora, Spencers and G. Fresh.
Fake goods must be flushed out
Obviously, they have the right to get the full value for their money. Despite the existence of regulatory and conformity assessment authorities such as Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), people themselves are responsible for the quality of products and services they want to purchase.
TBS, since last year, have embarked on a special campaign which intends to remove all substandard goods out of the markets to ensure that consumers get what has been endorsed.
The problem may be that perhaps consumers do not have full details of the products or services they are interested in. Sometimes, consumers acquire products or services without caring about their quality.
PHL Set to Destroy PHP 9.3 Billion Worth of Counterfeit Goods
Sustaining its gains in intellectual property rights enforcement, the PHL is set to destroy this month Php 9.3 Billion worth of counterfeit goods in Cabuyao, Laguna.
Today, Php 300,000 of the Php 9.3B is condemned. The seized goods consist of various items ranging from shirts, shoes, toys, electronic products and food seasoning.
The commencement of the month-long destruction was spearheaded by Commissioner Alberto D. Lina of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Director General Josephine R. Santiago of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and the members of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR).
Cigarette smuggling causing over Rs 7b loss annually
Smuggling of cigarettes of different brands and tax evasion causes a loss over Rs 7 billion to the national exchequer annually, documents reveal. The Pakistan Tobacco Company and Federal Board of Revenue have failed to curb smuggling of cigarettes into the country. Documents available with Daily Times reveal that about 20 percent of the cigarettes consumed in the country are smuggled. On the other side, the local cigarette
Lear MoreChina arrests six over fake infant formula: Government
The Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration said it was also tracking Internet sales of the fake milk powder, according to a statement. Chinese authorities have arrested six people for making and selling fake infant formula as the popular US brand Similac, marketing the counterfeit product across seven provinces, a Shanghai government body said.
Abbott, maker of Similac, said separately on Tuesday (Apr 5) that the case came to light in December and the fake goods had been traced and seized by the end of last year, according to a statement on its verified Chinese microblog.
Large-scale smuggling of agricultural products as economic sabotage: seriously?
The problem of smuggling in the Philippines has reached horrendous heights. It retards agricultural production, limits manufacturing, and increases income inequality.
“Smuggling in the Philippines is at its worst under President Aquino’s administration, with the smuggled value averaging $19.6 billion annually, an explosion from the comparable figures of $3.1 billion and $3.8 billion yearly during the terms of Presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, respectively,” says Rigoberto Tiglao, a noted opinion writer, citing data from the International Monetary Fund.
Fighting smuggling would bring in more revenue
The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr. George Blankson recently reported that the GRA exceeded its 2015 revenue target of GH¢ 21.57 by collecting GH¢ 22.17 billion. Refreshing as that news is, there, however, is still a lot more to be done to rake in more tax revenue for Ghana’s development against the backdrop of the sustained and increasing activities of smugglers. This calls for a sustained fight against smuggling activities on the part of stakeholders, the citizenry and the security agencies.
Nigeria: Customs Boss Accuses Elite of Aiding Smuggling
Owerri — The Area Controller of Customs, Federal Operation Units, Zone C’ Owerri, HarunaMmamadu, has accused the rich and educated members of the society of aiding smuggling of certain goods into the country. He spoke while displaying goods seized within the past three months. He lamented that importers have continued to flout restriction order placed on certain products by the Comptroller General of Customs.
“All these trucks you see here are not owned by poor people; they belong to the rich in the society who have continued to aid and abet the illegal importation of contraband products into the country,” he said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201604030061.html
Lear More