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REVENUE’S CUSTOMS officers are conducting a major investigation into cigarette smuggling and are carrying out an average of one “blitz raid” every day with a view to securing a record 150 smuggling convictions this year.
The extent of the heightened activity aimed at gangs smuggling contraband and counterfeit cigarettes was revealed yesterday by senior Revenue official Tom Talbot at a conference in Dublin on cigarette smuggling.
He said Revenue this year planned to carry out at least six “national blitzes”, which would each involve periods of up to six days of intense raids and search operations on suspected smugglers and their premises.
“We are drafting in additional staff for these – people who would work in other areas, like enforcement on alcohol and oil or social welfare,” he said.
A further 100 blitz operations would go ahead this year at airports around the country, involving Customs staff carrying out saturation-level searches on selected days.
Another 200 regional blitz operations would also be conducted by the end of the year at locations such as open air markets where cigarettes were being sold.
Mr Talbot told the Retailers Against Smuggling conference the exchequer was losing an estimated €250 million in taxes and duties every year as a result of the black market in cigarettes.
Legitimately produced and counterfeit cigarettes were being smuggled into the country and sold, all outside the tax system.
Mr Talbot said smuggling was being conducted across a range of levels, including holiday-makers, known as “ant smugglers”, bringing large quantities of cigarettes into the country.
Other people were “filling a suitcase once a month and making €10,000” or “filling a van once a year” and earning considerably more.
The conference heard those engaged in top-end organised crime, including the drugs trade, were also involved in cigarette smuggling, as were dissident republicans.
To date in 2011, some 54 million cigarettes had been seized. This compared to 147 million in all of last year. Mr Talbot said this reduction was due to the fact some very large hauls this year were intercepted by authorities in the North after they were allowed to leave the Republic.
Earlier this month, when 10 million cigarettes were found in a container in Cork, a second container that had been travelling with it was intercepted in Antwerp with the help of the Irish authorities.
A total of four container-loads destined for Ireland this year had been intercepted just outside the jurisdiction for operational reasons, with the co-operation and consent of Revenue.
Mr Talbot said the fact these seizures were not included in Revenue’s seizure total for the year distorted the level of smuggling activity into the country. This activity was increasing, he said.
Retailers at the conference were told the Republic had the second highest retail price for cigarettes in Europe. This meant international gangs favoured Ireland above other countries as a destination for cigarettes due to higher profits on the black market here.
The ease with which the border with the North could be crossed also meant gangs favoured Ireland as a gateway country to the UK and the rest of Europe.
Joe Barrett, an owner and founder of the Applegreen chain of service stations and chair of yesterday’s conference, said truckloads of cigarettes were landing at ports in the Republic, being driven north of the Border and then entering Britain via car ferry.
* Three men were arrested following the seizure of seven million contraband cigarettes in west Dublin yesterday. The haul was uncovered at Baldonnell Business Park as it was being offloaded from a 40-foot container.
Three Irish men, one in his 40s and two in their 20s, were arrested at the premises and were last night being held for questioning.
Police and customs officers in Northern Ireland who launched a major operation against organised crime have uncovered a fuel laundering plant, seized a large sum of cash and arrested three men.
There were raids on 13 commercial and private premises in Co Antrim, including in Belfast, as part of the investigation into large-scale fuel fraud, money laundering and VAT fraud.
Officials said they recovered £300,000 in cash, plus a mobile laundering plant, 72,000 litres of illicit fuel, a number of vehicles, pumps and other equipment.
John Whiting, assistant director of customs criminal investigation, said: "This operation is linked to ongoing investigations into the laundering and distribution of illicit fuel across Northern Ireland.
"Those involved in the illegal fuel trade are not providing a public service; it is organised criminality, which impacts on local communities and makes it more difficult for legitimate businesses to compete.
"Most crime is motivated by money. The prevention of money laundering and the seizure of cash and assets stops serious crime and we would urge anyone with information about this or other illegal activity to contact us on 0800 59 5000."
It is understood the three arrested people remain in custody and the investigation is continuing
Welder Mark Lang, 37, of Pendennis Road, Torquay, and farmhand Peter Ferguson, 57, from Liverpool, brought drugs with a street value of £2.2million into the country.
The cocaine was hidden in the piston of a hydraulic press sent from South America to the workshop of Taylor Made Gates on Newton Road, a business owned by Lang.
Both men denied the charge, as did a third defendant Daryl Wilson, 33, a security door fitter from Queensway, Torquay.
The jury took three hours to find Lang and Ferguson guilty of conspiring together to fraudulently evade the prohibition of importation of a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and in contravention of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.
Wilson was acquitted of the same charge.
The five-day trial was told how the drugs were discovered hidden in a metal press by officials at Frankfurt Airport in Germany.
They were removed at Heathrow Airport but the press was reassembled and taken to its destination address at Taylor Made Gates.
Officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency then mounted a surveillance operation to see who would pick up the press.
It lay unwrapped on a pallet for several days in a deliberate attempt to flush out any interest from police.
SOCA planted a listening bug and on the morning of January 16 officers heard Lang, Ferguson and another man, Ricardo Gomez, opening the package and dismantling the press.
At 11.10am local police and SOCA officers raided the workshop and arrested the three men.
The working press used to conceal the drugs bored the fake company name of Torbol, a combination of Torquay and Bolivia.
The company did not exist but a cargo firm paid to bring it through Heathrow had been given a glossy company brochure to make it seem genuine.
It was claimed Ferguson had arranged for Gomez, known as 'the mechanic', to fly to the UK a few days before to dismantle the press and extract the drugs.
Gomez admitted his part in the plot and did not stand trial.
Ferguson said he thought the press would contain cannabis.
He claimed he was asked by a businessman from his native Liverpool to take out the cannabis and drive it up to Liverpool.
Lang, who refused to give evidence, told police he had been asked by an unnamed man to take delivery of a press but had no idea it contained drugs.
Wilson denied any knowledge of the press or drug smuggling.
The prosecution said Wilson knew both men and was the 'go-between' allowing Lang and Ferguson to stay in contact by passing messages between them.
But the jury did not agree and he walked free from court.
Police said the gang wanted to extract the drugs for onward sale in the UK.
Ferguson, Lang and Gomez are due to be sentenced today.
Anthony Kelly, 49, appeared in court in the northern city of Santander yesterday accused of planning to import the drugs to the UK.
Kelly was due to board a Plymouth-bound ferry just hours after he was arrested by Spanish drug squad detectives on Wednesday June 15.
The country’s National Police allegedly recovered 171kg of cannabis, worth £513,000 had it been sold on the street.
Kelly was held after he returned to his Santander hotel in a taxi in the early hours of Monday morning.
After searching his Vauxhall Astra, which was parked outside the hotel, officers from Madrid’s specialist organised crime unit allegedly discovered a haul of 681 packages hidden in secret compartments, including a "false floor".
Kelly was booked on a car ferry leaving Santander hours later for Plymouth.
He was today being held on remand following a behind-closed-doors appearance before an investigating judge in the Atlantic port city.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the arrest of a British national in Spain on June 15 and consular assistance is currently being provided."
HEROIN dealer was jailed for five years for his part in what the judge said was the “miserable trade in drugs on Teesside”.
The Crown said that Gary David O’Hare, 31, from Middlesbrough who was caught with nearly £12,000 of the Class A drug was not just a street level dealer.
Text messages showed he was higher up the chain dealing in bigger amounts than just selling wraps to addicts, said prosecutor Michael Bosomworth.
O’Hare, pictured, a building contractor, who had served a two-year sentence for heroin dealing in 2008, was caught with 117g of heroin when police raided his girlfriend’s home in Brancepeth Avenue, Middlesbrough, on September 22 last year.
The heroin which was worth £11,700 was in a bedroom, and police also seized a set of scales with traces of heroin, a dealer’s list, plastic bags and £100 in cash, Teesside Crown Court was told.
An examination of his mobile phone revealed a text message from the day before: “Want nine of that stuff you have given us.”
Mr Bosomworth said an experienced drugs officer concluded the “nine” referred to nine ounces of heroin. He added: “We are dealing here with significant quantities, and not street deals.”
His previous jail sentence came after he walked in to Middlesbrough Police Station on June 12, 2008 and produced wraps of heroin.
Martin Scarborough, defending, said O’Hare was released from jail with a £13,000 drugs debt, and he had been working to pay it off. His family had now paid it off legitimately. O’Hare’s partner, the mother of three children, was standing by him.
Judge Michael Taylor jailed O’Hare, of Holdenby Drive, Middlesbrough, for five years after he pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to supply.
A car being chased by a Roanoke police officer for speeding crashed into a minivan at a busy northwest Roanoke intersection Friday, shoving the minivan onto its side and sending its driver to a hospital, police said.
A large amount of cocaine was found on the car's driver, Roanoke police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said.
Joshua Markey Hairston, 21, of Roanoke is being held in the Roanoke City Jail without bond in connection with the incident.
The suspect led police on a pursuit that started before 4 p.m. Friday when a Roanoke officer conducting a radar check on Loudon Avenue near 18th Street, stopped a silver Nissan in the 1600 block of Loudon Avenue for driving 13 miles per hour over the residential speed limit of 25, Johnson said.
Roanoke police Officer R.H. McNiff tried to make a traffic stop when Hairston stopped in the 1600 block of Loudon Avenue, according to the police report. A police vehicle video confirmed the officer was exiting his patrol vehicle when Hairston's vehicle fled, Johnson said.
According to the police report, Hairston did not stop at two subsequent intersections. His vehicle then struck a white Pontiac minivan that was traveling north on 10th Street at the intersection of 10th Street and Loudon Avenue, police said.
Carlos Reyes, who said he was driving home from work when he witnessed the wreck, said he saw the Nissan T-bone the minivan, sending it soaring into the air. The minivan landed on its left side between a light post and a utility box near the intersection.
Reyes was driving his Ford Explorer behind the minivan when he saw the wreck, he said. He and another man ran to the minivan and tried to open its passenger door to pull the driver out, he said, but the door was stuck.
Firefighters arrived and sawed off the roof of the minivan and freed the trapped woman. Medics took her in an ambulance to a hospital. Dozens of onlookers watched from a hill across 10th Street.
The driver of the minivan was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. She was identified as Lisa Gail Johnson, 31, of Roanoke. There were no passengers with her. A Carilion spokeswoman did not have information of Johnson's condition Friday night.
At the time of the wreck, McNiff was traveling in the 1100 block of Loudon Avenue. The officer safely cleared the intersection of 11th Street and Loudon Avenue before approaching the wreck.
Hairston fled the scene, as did a passenger who was with him, police said. Hairston ran onto a Valley Metro bus that was stopped at the intersection of 10th Street and Loudon Avenue, police said.
McNiff found him on the bus and arrested him. Officers found a large quantity of a white substance in Hairston's possession that field-tested positive for cocaine, Johnson said. Hairston has been charged with possession of cocaine, felony eluding police, driving on a suspended operator's license, speeding and a seat belt violation, Johnson said.
The passenger was found at the intersection of Eighth Street and Harrison Avenue by another officer working the wreck. The passenger, who police have not named, was released Friday evening but charges against the passenger are pending.
This is at least the third wreck related to a police chase in the city this year, and at least the ninth since January 2010.
In January 2011, the police department put an officer on administrative leave after she crashed into two cars on Hershberger Road while racing to join the pursuit of a motorist who had run a stop sign.
In March, the department put an officer on administrative duty after he crashed into a fence off Melrose Avenue while pursuing a habitual offender.
Police Chief Chris Perkins said the police response was appropriate in both cases, but officers are expected to maintain control of their cruisers.
A preliminary investigation shows McNiff "acted appropriately during this incident," Perkins said in a news release.
"According to the preliminary investigation, Officer McNiff used due diligence and caution in his response to the dangerous and careless actions of the driver who chose to flee in an attempt to avoid arrest and prosecution," Perkins said.
The wreck remains under investigation.
Funk icon Sly Stone has been MIA from the rock scene for quite some time, but that doesn’t stop him from rocking the boat with the law.
According to a post on Reuters, the 68-year-old rocker, who is the front man for Sly and the Family Stone, was arrested April 1, along with his driver, after police found cocaine in the clothing of both Stone and the driver. One of Stone’s defense attorneys, Peter Knecht, insisted that the cocaine didn’t belong to Stone, stating that: “A lot of musicians hang out with people who have drugs. How are they supposed to know?”
Stone’s next court appearance has been set for July 19, at a pre-trial conference at a court in Van Nuys, a suburb located in Los Angeles. Stone, whose real name is Sylvester Stewart, is the artist behind such iconic soul tunes as “Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey” and “I Wanna Take You Higher,” but his career has been plagued troubles with the law, including charges for drug and gun possession.
His first public appearance in close to 13 years was made during the Grammy Awards in 2006, when he was the focus of an all-star tribute. He stormed the stage in a rendition of “I Wanna Take You Higher,” but he left before the song ended.
Stone will be ending a 30-year hiatus from the recording scene this year, as he is set to release a new album on August 16. This was revealed by Tim Yasui, general manager for Cleopatra Records.
traffic stop by North Carolina state troopers led to one of the largest cocaine seizures in the Charlotte area, according to the Justice Department.
On Thursday, June 16, state troopers stopped a Ford F-150 truck along Highway 74 in Monroe. During the stop, state troopers said they saw three duffel bags in the back seat of the truck.
One of the bags was slightly unzipped troopers said, and they saw what appeared to be packages wrapped in brown tape.
A drug-sniffing dog was called to the scene and the animal indicated to officers that drugs were present in the truck. After a conducting a search…troopers said they found 81 kilograms of cocaine.
The 81 kilos has an estimated street value of $2.4 million, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Two men, Rueben Orozco-Garcia, 33, and Juan Gonzalez-Vejar, 46, were arrested on June 17, 2011, and charged with suspicion of trafficking cocaine.
A department of justice spokesperson said the case against Gozalez-Vejar and Orozco –Garcia is still unfolding, and more information about the case could be revealed over the next few days.
Investigators said the men confessed to and showed DEA agents several homes they used in Union and Mecklenburg counties to process cocaine.
Both men are suspected of being in the United States illegally, and are in federal custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail under no bond.
Saudi security forces have foiled attempts to smuggle drugs worth more than SR1.65 billion into the Kingdom during the last three months and arrested 503 drug smugglers, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference, ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said those arrested were 252 Saudis and 251 foreigners from 24 countries.
During the drug busts, which took place during March, April and May this year, three security officers were injured while five smugglers killed.
During the first operation, drug enforcement agencies foiled an attempt to smuggle 7.92 million amphetamine pills, 3,605 kg of hashish, 64,482 kg of qat and 12.89 kg of heroin into the Kingdom. In the second operation, police confiscated 3.6 million amphetamine pills, 1,367 kg of hashish, 24,458 kg of qat and 4.88 kg of heroin in addition to SR3.23 million in cash.
Al-Turki said police seized 2.7 million amphetamine pills, 1,243 kg of hashish, 4.44 kg of heroin and 22,732 kg of qat in another major anti-drug operation. He commended the coordination between the Customs Department and security agencies in carrying out the operations against drug-smuggling and trafficking.
The spokesman said during the first three months of this year, police arrested 241 Saudis and 237 foreigners of 23 nationalities for their involvement in drug smuggling and trafficking operations.
Al-Turki said the smugglers had used children and women to carry out their malicious operations. “There were at least five cases in which women and children were involved,” he said. However, he pointed out that women have never been the main operators. He said most drug smuggling operations took place through the land borders. “There were only fewer cases of smuggling through the Kingdom’s marine borders,” he added.
Al-Turki said security officers considered these successful anti-drug operations their national duty. “We have stated several times before that Saudi Arabia has been targeted by drug barons. Even some tablets given to patients by some doctors are aimed at making them drug addicts. Drug traffickers bribe doctors and pharmacists to market such narcotic pills,” he said.
He said it is the duty of the Health Ministry to monitor hospitals and pharmacies and prevent them from promoting narcotic drugs. “We have good coordination with all government departments.” The general called for the cooperation of all members of society to prevent drug smuggling and trafficking in the Kingdom.
“Some people think certain drugs would not create any addiction. This is wrong. All drug barons and producers are involved in this illicit business to make money. They want to make people addicts gradually by promoting soft pills.”
Al-Turki urged students not to take narcotic pills during examination times in order to keep them awake. “It will make them drug addicts,” he said and urged parents to keep a watch on their children.
Maj. Ahmed Al-Harithy, director of labs at the Anti-Drugs Department, pointed out that all the confiscated pills were contaminated as they were manufactured improperly.
TWO drug traffickers were sentenced to death, one with a two-year reprieve, by a court in northeast China's Jilin Province yesterday.
Weng Tanggen was found guilty of possessing drug paraphernalia and possessing and selling illegal drugs and sentenced to death.
Police seized more than 10,000 magu pills, 757 grams of magu powder and drug-making equipment from a house rented by Weng.
Wang Jianping, who had 5,912 magu pills and 265 grams of methamphetamine in his apartment in Changchun, Jilin's capital, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.
Magu is made by combining methamphetamine, also known as ice, and caffeine.
The court heard that Weng had brought more than 14,000 magu pills from Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, and sold them to Wang at 43 yuan (US$6.6) each.
Seven people who bought drugs from Wang were jailed for between 18 months and 15 years.
A clandestine factory was reportedly found where methanol was being used to make counterfeit alcoholic drinks.
Four Russian tour guides died and some 20 fell ill after being served tainted alcohol on a yacht near the resort of Bodrum.
The deaths of the guides, mostly young women, made headlines in Russia.
According to Turkish news agency Anatolia, arrests were made in four different regions of the country.
In the southern province of Mersin, 7,000 bottles of bootleg liquor were found along with empty bottles, stickers and other materials used in production.
Police reportedly found methanol, commonly used to mix bootleg alcohol, in whiskey on the yacht.
Turkey's agriculture ministry said earlier that the alcoholic drinks served on the yacht had been imported by an Ankara company from North Cyprus and distributed to Ankara, Mersin, Antalya and Mugla.
'Strange taste'
The latest victim, a Russian man, died on Monday in hospital in western Turkey.
Two of the other victims also died in Turkey and the third after flying back to Moscow.
Twenty Russians and one Turk were affected, and one woman has been in a coma.
The party of some 60 Russians was largely made up of travel agency managers, in Turkey for a fact-finding visit, the Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty reported last week.
Anatasia Lavrenko, whose friend Marina Shevelyova died in Moscow, told Russian online newspaper Life News they had paid $50 for the night-time cruise and each had been served between 10 and 12 of their favourite cocktails, whiskey and cola.
"Sometimes it seemed like the taste of the alcohol was too strong but then I thought the barmen had simply poured out too much whiskey and I did not attach any importance to it," she said.
Life News published on its Russian-language website a photo said to show the two young women drinking aboard the yacht.
The day after the cruise, when they were due to fly home together, both women woke up feeling ill but blamed a hangover.
However, Ms Shevelyova became more and more sick on the flight back and, after being rushed to hospital in Moscow, died last Tuesday.
Drug dealers are increasingly using Oman's strategic location as the transit point for drug trafficking, according to Lt. Colonel Yaqoub Bin Salmeen Al Habsi, Acting head of the Drug Control Department at the Directorate-General of Criminal Investigation.
He said that the proximity of Oman to drug producing nations was another cause of increase in attempt to use the country as a transit point for global drug smuggling.
Traffickers were getting innovative in smuggling drugs through sea route. "Among the newer methods used, infiltrators are used as means to smuggle narcotics into the country as they are dropped off along the coastal area during night."
Oman has also detected cases of air passengers swallowing drugs to smuggle them.
The pitfall of increasing drug smuggling through Oman is increase in use of banned drugs by young Omanis. "Most users [of drugs] in the country are Omanis, although smuggling and trafficking [of drugs] is largely done by the expatriates," said Lt. Col. Al Habsi.
He revealed that last year 895 drug related crimes were reported and 1,417 people accused for such crimes. The senior police officer points out that last year there was an increase in drug related crimes compared to 2009.
The number of drug related crimes reported in 2009 was 688 and the number of those arrested was 1048.
"The drugs seized included 314kg of hashish, 52kg of heroin, one kg of opium, 123gm of morphine and 11kg of qat in addition to 276,455 tablets," he added.
He urged all residents to make every effort to protect society from drug abuse and to discourage young people from falling prey to the menace.
He said that smugglers were now targeting young people for their operations too. "They are taking help of the youth to store these smuggled consignments before smuggling them out to another country," he pointed out.
He stressed that the Royal Oman Police (ROP) was vigilant and had increased patrolling. "We have foiled several bids to smuggle drugs and have arrested a number of smugglers," Lt Col Al Habsi revealed.
He also revealed that a large quantity of drugs has been destroyed and cash earned by smugglers from the drug trade has been confiscated.
He said that the ROP role was not limited to foiling smuggling attempts and arresting traffickers but they also make efforts to rehabilitate drug addicts.
"We take help of Health Ministry's Ibn Sina hospital and other institutions," he said, adding that currently 86 addicts were under treatment at different health institutions in the country.
He also appealed to the parents to raise their own awareness about the drug-related problems and also educate their children and protect them from falling pray to drug addiction.
Lt. Col AL Habsi said that Oman and UAE had formed a joint committee to counter attempts to smuggle drugs through the long coastline of the country.
