Cigarette Smuggling

http://7thspace.com/headlines/408345/customs_swoops_on_illicit_cigarette_smuggling_syndicate_in_sai_kung.html

Hong Kong (HKSAR) – Hong Kong Customs today (March 20) swooped on an illicit cigarette smuggling syndicate in Sai Kung.On board a lorry and a van, a total of 87 boxes containing about 1.04 million sticks of duty-not-paid cigarette were found. The total value is about $2.6 million with a duty potential of about $1.7 million. In the operation, three men (aged from 21 to 34) were arrested, a lorry and a van were seized.

At about 1.30pm, while conducting an anti-illicit cigarette operation in Sai Kung area, Customs officers of Anti-illicit-cigarette Investigation Division spotted a suspicious lorry inside Tseng Tau Tsuen. Three men were seen off-loading some carton boxes from the lorry to a van. Customs officers then took action and found 87 boxes of illicit cigarette. Three men were arrested immediately.

Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, anyone involved in dealing with, possession, selling and buying illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty on conviction is imprisonment for two years and a fine of $1 million.

Customs will continue to take stringent enforcement against cigarette smuggling activities to protect government revenue.

Members of the public are urged to report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to the Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182.

Source: HKSAR Government

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-02/u-s-charges-26-in-325-million-chinese-counterfeit-smuggling-ring-busts.html

By David Voreacos – Mar 3, 2012 4:49 AM GMT+0800Fri Mar 02 20:49:15 GMT 2012

U.S. authorities charged 29 people with smuggling $325 million in counterfeit consumer goods from China, including phony Nike sneakers and Coach handbags, through a New Jersey port.

The bust was one of the largest counterfeiting probes in U.S. history, and it involved smuggling cigarettes, handbags and sneakers through the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal as U.S. agents secretly watched and listened, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said. Agents infiltrated two overlapping criminal rings and lured them to use a front company run by the government.

Authorities arrested 23 people in New York, New Jersey,Texas and the Philippines. Six are at large. Most are Chinese and lived in New York. Prosecutors said they used phony paperwork to import goods in corrugated shipping containers, used distributors and wholesalers, and laundered illicit proceeds.

“The cost of counterfeit goods is not limited to massive financial harm to American businesses and consumers,” Fishman said at a news conference in Newark. “Criminals can exploit the same channels to import other material that threatens our health and safety.”

Estimates of annual counterfeiting worldwide are “tens of billions” of dollars a year, Fishman said.

“This is an extraordinarily large case but there’s a huge amount of this going on out in the world,” he said.

UGG Boots

Aside from Nike and Coach, the counterfeited brands including UGG boots; Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Gucci handbags; and Ed Hardy and Juicy Couture clothing, according to criminal charges in federal court in Newark.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and from Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Customs andBorder Protection conducted parallel probes of crimes at the port, which moves 2.5 million containers annually. The rings eventually overlapped, and the agents coordinated their investigations.

The Homeland Security and CBP probe, begun in September 2009, focused on Patrick Siu, 39, of Richardson, Texas, and his associates, who are accused of smuggling $300 million in counterfeit goods. Siu worked with an undercover agent who promised to use his “connections” to help move containers through the port, according to a complaint.

Some defendants would take counterfeit goods to warehouses they controlled and remove generic labels to reveal fraudulent designer labels, or would add phony designer tags, authorities said. Others are accused of supplying retailers with counterfeit goods, and some laundered the proceeds, authorities said.

‘The Beijing Kid’

One defendant, Ning Guo, 38, of China, was known as “The Beijing Kid,” prosecutors said. He was also charged separately with a ring investigated by the FBI. That group is accused of importing more than $25 million in counterfeit goods and using a front company, set up by agents, that acted as an importer.

The arrest complaints quote dozens of secretly recorded conversations, including one between Hai Yan Jiang, 32, of Richardson, and Lin Wu, 43, of Maspeth, New York. They discussed importing counterfeit cosmetics, and Wu asked if the products would be safe, according to their arrest complaint.

Yan said the cosmetics were “counterfeit, but of good quality,” adding: “All I care about is to make money, other things do not matter.”

‘Go Be a Monk’

When Wu said “business needs to be done with a clear conscience,” Yan replied, “Then go be a monk.”

Three defendants were charged with trying to import crystal methamphetamine, including Soon Ah Kow, 72, of Hong Kong, who was indicted in January and arrested Feb. 18 in Manila. He was also accused of illegally importing cigarettes and footwear.

Two of those defendants, Hui Sheng Shen, 45, and Huan Ling Chang, 41, both of Taiwan. They discussed selling 50 kilograms of crystal meth to undercover agents, and delivered one kilo as a “sample load” that was concealed in tea bags hidden in a computer inside a cargo container, authorities said.

The cases include U.S. v. Patrick Siu, 12-cr-7061 and U.S. v. Ning Guo, 12-cr-7060, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).

To contact the reporter on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/felixstowe_sudbury_gang_which_illegally_imported_20m_cigarettes_is_jailed_1_1220001

‘Doran ran Crayford International, a Dubai-based company, and Crayford Creek Properties in the UK. Several years earlier he had sold a waste management company for £79 million.’

Felixstowe/Sudbury: Gang which illegally imported 20m cigarettes is jailed

Saturday, February 25, 2012

1:29 PM

AN INTERNATIONAL smuggling gang which illegally imported 20 million cigarettes disguised as toys has been jailed for a total of nearly 25 years.

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The operation was bankrolled by a multimillionaire British businessman, based in Dubai, and required “meticulous planning”, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

The Dubai-manufactured M&J cigarettes had a total black market value of up to £3 million. The gang planned to avoid £3.3 million in importation duty.

They were arrested after investigators placed them under surveillance, and were caught red handed as the cigarettes were shipped through the Port of Felixstowe in November 2009.

Describing the operation, prosecutor Mark Paltenghi said: “An international smuggling operation of this kind would require meticulous planning at every stage. It also required a significant up-front cost.”

He added: “The group decided the cargo should be described as something bulky but innocent. They described the containers as toys.

“They did not use the shortest, direct route between Dubai and the UK because Dubai is not famous for manufacturing toys.

“Instead they used a route some 8,000 miles longer via Hong Kong as this would avoid suspicion.”

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) led the investigation.

Mr Paltenghi said Paul O’Meara, described as the “lynchpin”, was responsible for setting up the deal bankrolled by multimillionaire Robert Doran and Patrick Gray, who owned a scaffolding company.

Doran ran Crayford International, a Dubai-based company, and Crayford Creek Properties in the UK.Several years earlier he had sold a waste management company for £79 million.

Gray, who also provided part of the set-up cost estimated at about £200,000, met O’Meara through Doran.

Martin Cleland, Mark Sadgrove, Wayne Stock and Matthew Neale worked as “foot soldiers” under the three men’s leadership, Mr Paltenghi said.

O’Meara, Sadgrove and Neale were arrested after a warehouse in Upminster was raided by officers.

Stock was arrested a short time later while the three other gang members were traced months later.

In mitigation the court heard O’Meara, once a wealthy businessman, had financial problems and “took the wrong route out”.

Along with Doran and Gray, who was a “minority investor”, he admitted the offence at the earliest opportunity.

The seriousness of the final four men’s involvement was far less than that of the three ringleaders, the court heard.

O’Meara, 48, of Sudbury; Doran, 47, of Dubai; and Gray, 53, of Hertford, all admitted conspiracy to evade excise duty.

They were each ordered to serve four years and six months in prison.

Cleland, 45, of Hornchurch; Sadgrove, 39, of Loughton; Neale, 44, of Harlow; and Stock, 38, of Chelmsford, all in Essex, were found guilty of conspiracy after a trial.

Cleland was ordered to serve four years and six months, Sadgrove two and a half years and Stock and Neale two years