A Hungarian lorry driver has been arrested after more than four million cigarettes were found at Dover.
Customs officers who stopped a Hungarian-registered lorry at the Kent port on Thursday found an estimated £708,000 worth of cigarettes.
The 35-year-old driver from Wekerle near Budapest, was arrested, questioned and bailed pending further inquiries.
Bob Gaiger of HM Revenue & Customs said: "We take a very serious view of cigarette and tobacco smuggling."
Sep 25, 2009
Sep 23, 2009
NY judge blocks higher fees for tobacco dealers
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's fee increases for cigarette-selling shops were temporarily blocked by a state judge, a retail association said on Friday, leaving the current $100-a-year charge in effect for now.
State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Feinman issued a temporary restraining order that prevents the state charging fees that could have climbed to as high as $5,000-a-year for stores with high volumes of sales, said James Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.
The fee increases were designed to stop about 40 percent of the state's 24,000 licensed tobacconists from selling cigarettes in an effort to improve public health, he said.
"But that theory is all wet because most of the displaced smokers would merely shift their tobacco purchases to Indian reservations, the Internet and the black market, making things worse for small business, tax revenue and public health," Calvin said in a statement.
A spokesman for New York Governor David Paterson had no immediate comment.
The state's governors have for years failed to force Native American reservation stores to charge New York state taxes on sales of cigarettes and gasoline. The state claims it loses hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues as a result.
Non-reservation stores say they cannot compete with the lower prices the Native American stores can offer.
State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Feinman issued a temporary restraining order that prevents the state charging fees that could have climbed to as high as $5,000-a-year for stores with high volumes of sales, said James Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.
The fee increases were designed to stop about 40 percent of the state's 24,000 licensed tobacconists from selling cigarettes in an effort to improve public health, he said.
"But that theory is all wet because most of the displaced smokers would merely shift their tobacco purchases to Indian reservations, the Internet and the black market, making things worse for small business, tax revenue and public health," Calvin said in a statement.
A spokesman for New York Governor David Paterson had no immediate comment.
The state's governors have for years failed to force Native American reservation stores to charge New York state taxes on sales of cigarettes and gasoline. The state claims it loses hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues as a result.
Non-reservation stores say they cannot compete with the lower prices the Native American stores can offer.
Sep 21, 2009
Rome woman charged with using stolen credit cards
A 29-year-old Rome woman is facing several charges after she allegedly used a stolen credit card to purchase cigarettes at Walmart earlier this month, New Hartford police said.
Scarlet Gies was charged Thursday with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and second-degree forgery, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor petit larceny, Officer Shane Yoxall said.
According to police, Gies entered the Walmart store in Consumer Square on Sept. 3 and attempted to purchase two carts of Newport cigarettes using three different credit cards, Yoxall said. Gies was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap.
After the first two credit cards were declined, Gies then used a third card to complete the transaction, Yoxall said. When Gies left the store, the Walmart employee followed Gies into the parking lot and wrote down her vehicle’s license plate number. The employee then reported the suspicious incident to New Hartford police.
Following a joint investigation by the New Hartford police, Rome police, and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, it was later determined that the credit card Gies used to buy the cigarettes had been stolen earlier that day from a vehicle in the outer district of Rome, Yoxall said.
Gies was arraigned and released, and she is due to appear in New Hartford Town Court on Oct. 1 to answer the charges.
Scarlet Gies was charged Thursday with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and second-degree forgery, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor petit larceny, Officer Shane Yoxall said.
According to police, Gies entered the Walmart store in Consumer Square on Sept. 3 and attempted to purchase two carts of Newport cigarettes using three different credit cards, Yoxall said. Gies was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap.
After the first two credit cards were declined, Gies then used a third card to complete the transaction, Yoxall said. When Gies left the store, the Walmart employee followed Gies into the parking lot and wrote down her vehicle’s license plate number. The employee then reported the suspicious incident to New Hartford police.
Following a joint investigation by the New Hartford police, Rome police, and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, it was later determined that the credit card Gies used to buy the cigarettes had been stolen earlier that day from a vehicle in the outer district of Rome, Yoxall said.
Gies was arraigned and released, and she is due to appear in New Hartford Town Court on Oct. 1 to answer the charges.
Sep 17, 2009
Campus smoking ban eliminates student rights
Another smoking ban? Here we go again. Enough is enough. First came taxes, then came designated areas, and now here comes Bellarmine University with a smoking ban.
Nobody in their right mind denies the risks of smoking tobacco products. Smoking cigarettes undoubtedly causes lung cancer and other health problems. For this reason, I absolutely agree that this health risk should be combated with the full force of education.
In the same vein, secondhand smoke absolutely remains a considerable health risk for non-smokers. Given the risk of second-hand smoke, designated areas for smoking makes sense for the protection of non-smokers. But a campus-wide smoking ban is frankly ridiculous.
Are we supposed to believe that non-smokers do not have the sense to protect their own health by staying away from non-smoking areas? Do they have the sense to come out of the rain?
A campus-wide smoking ban takes a good idea and makes it oppressive. Smokers make up 25% of the population, which is the quarter of the American people whose rights no longer seem to be of any importance to the remaining 75% of our society*.
Already society regulates smokers to separate areas, and taxes them an arm and a leg for their cigarettes. Society has done enough to stop the effects of smoking. Now is the time to draw the line.
Smoking 15 feet away from the exits of all Bellarmine buildings does no one any harm except the smokers themselves.
When it comes to smokers' health as far as the University is concerned, if they are over 18 that is their business. To ban smoking from the entire campus implies the act of smoking is sinful.
Smoking cigarettes hurts health, but give me a break. We live in a society founded on the basis of individual rights.
The ability to smoke cigarettes is not a privilege it is a right. Citizens have the right to choose whether they want to smoke or not, and the University should not interfere so long as no innocents are hurt. The ban is excessive and I disagree with the University's decision to enact it.
Nobody in their right mind denies the risks of smoking tobacco products. Smoking cigarettes undoubtedly causes lung cancer and other health problems. For this reason, I absolutely agree that this health risk should be combated with the full force of education.
In the same vein, secondhand smoke absolutely remains a considerable health risk for non-smokers. Given the risk of second-hand smoke, designated areas for smoking makes sense for the protection of non-smokers. But a campus-wide smoking ban is frankly ridiculous.
Are we supposed to believe that non-smokers do not have the sense to protect their own health by staying away from non-smoking areas? Do they have the sense to come out of the rain?
A campus-wide smoking ban takes a good idea and makes it oppressive. Smokers make up 25% of the population, which is the quarter of the American people whose rights no longer seem to be of any importance to the remaining 75% of our society*.
Already society regulates smokers to separate areas, and taxes them an arm and a leg for their cigarettes. Society has done enough to stop the effects of smoking. Now is the time to draw the line.
Smoking 15 feet away from the exits of all Bellarmine buildings does no one any harm except the smokers themselves.
When it comes to smokers' health as far as the University is concerned, if they are over 18 that is their business. To ban smoking from the entire campus implies the act of smoking is sinful.
Smoking cigarettes hurts health, but give me a break. We live in a society founded on the basis of individual rights.
The ability to smoke cigarettes is not a privilege it is a right. Citizens have the right to choose whether they want to smoke or not, and the University should not interfere so long as no innocents are hurt. The ban is excessive and I disagree with the University's decision to enact it.
Sep 15, 2009
Is Smoking Tobacco Cigarettes Interfering With Your Life And Driving You Crazy
People start smoking cigarettes, usually at an early age, and they never really realize what a can of worms they have opened until it is too late. They do not know what a difficult monkey this will be to ever get off their back. They are not aware at the time they start smoking cigarettes that it will feel like a shackle around their ankle for the rest of their life, a shackle that they may never be able to find the right key to remove it.
Everyone has heard about how addictive and destructive to the health of a person that cigarettes can be, but you can never have a really clear understanding of exactly how bad it is unless you smoke and have become addicted yourself.
It might not seem to be such a burden or bother to smoke when you have only been doing it for a few years. There does come a time however, when smoking is no longer much of a pleasure at all. It turns into a habit that you can not easily find a way to break and one that can constantly interfere with your everyday life. It can become annoying when you open your eyes in the morning and the first thing you think about is lighting that first cigarette. When you run out at night, you might not even be able to sleep well because you know there will not be one waiting for you when you wake up. It might sound ridiculous, but this is the way this addiction works.
It can be even more annoying and uncomfortable for a smoke now that there have been so many bans placed on smoking in public places. You can no longer enjoy a cigarette after a meal in your favorite restaurant. You must wait until you get to your car or at home to smoke. So many people have developed an aversion to smoking cigarettes and the secondhand smoke they produce, you might even find it hard to have an active social life with people who do not smoke. It might be that some smokers can go for hours on end without smoking, but even those who have the willpower to do it usually do not like it.
You might be getting really tired of always wanting a cigarette. You might hesitate to go places or join in activities where smoking is prohibited. You might also be sick and tired of spending endless amounts of the cost of smoking cigarettes. Maybe you are annoyed at the way your home, your car, and even your body smells because of smoking. The fact is that smoking might really be getting on your nerves and it is a habit that you do not even enjoy anymore because of the guilt you feel about what you are slowly doing to your body, and that is far more important than what it smoking might be doing to your social life.
Everyone has heard about how addictive and destructive to the health of a person that cigarettes can be, but you can never have a really clear understanding of exactly how bad it is unless you smoke and have become addicted yourself.
It might not seem to be such a burden or bother to smoke when you have only been doing it for a few years. There does come a time however, when smoking is no longer much of a pleasure at all. It turns into a habit that you can not easily find a way to break and one that can constantly interfere with your everyday life. It can become annoying when you open your eyes in the morning and the first thing you think about is lighting that first cigarette. When you run out at night, you might not even be able to sleep well because you know there will not be one waiting for you when you wake up. It might sound ridiculous, but this is the way this addiction works.
It can be even more annoying and uncomfortable for a smoke now that there have been so many bans placed on smoking in public places. You can no longer enjoy a cigarette after a meal in your favorite restaurant. You must wait until you get to your car or at home to smoke. So many people have developed an aversion to smoking cigarettes and the secondhand smoke they produce, you might even find it hard to have an active social life with people who do not smoke. It might be that some smokers can go for hours on end without smoking, but even those who have the willpower to do it usually do not like it.
You might be getting really tired of always wanting a cigarette. You might hesitate to go places or join in activities where smoking is prohibited. You might also be sick and tired of spending endless amounts of the cost of smoking cigarettes. Maybe you are annoyed at the way your home, your car, and even your body smells because of smoking. The fact is that smoking might really be getting on your nerves and it is a habit that you do not even enjoy anymore because of the guilt you feel about what you are slowly doing to your body, and that is far more important than what it smoking might be doing to your social life.
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