News Forum

By DAVID B. CARUSO   Bloomberg

New Yorkers hoping to avoid the nation’s highest cigarette taxes have long turned to the Internet as a source for cheap smokes, but few bought as often, or as much, as Roza Budansky, according to city officials.

Over a three-year period, the 64-year-old purchased nearly $1 million worth of untaxed cigarettes from an Internet retailer in Louisville, Ky., said a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday by the City of New York. In total, some 32,232 cartons were shipped to her modest apartment in Brooklyn, the suit claimed.

From: CityNews

RETAILERS are concerned new laws mandating plain cigarette packaging will hurt business but anti-smoking groups say the changes are necessary.

Kristina Cowen owns two newsagencies in the city and said ordering and serving with identical packs would be difficult.

“It’s very unnecessary, given that they already go undercover, and just adds to the pressure of serving customers in a timely fashion,” Ms Cowen said.

She said the extra time serving would impact on her bottom line.

Team leader of tobacco programs at Cancer Council Queensland Rachel Hull said the packaging was a still key way tobacco companies marketed to smokers.

Source: Ghanaian Chronicle

A JOINT GHANAIAN police and Interpol operation dubbed ‘Operation Atlantic’ has led to the arrest of 16 persons for allegedly engaging in intellectual property offences, running into several thousands of Ghana Cedis, with four suspects currently on the run.

However, all the 16 suspects, according to the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Prosper Kwame Agblor, have been granted police enquiry bail, explaining that the nature of the purported crime did not warrant their detention for more than the specified 48 hours.