Ice cream van man sold smuggled cigarettes

Police seized thousands of pounds worth of smuggled cigarettes and tobacco from an ice cream van.
They pounced on it in Ashford, Kent, after being tipped off by suspicious residents and seized 16,000 cigarettes and 22lbs of hand-rolling tobacco worth £10,000.
Police said: "It seems that illegal tobacco was being sold along with the 99s and ice lollies." Customs investigators have now been called in.

Cigarettes smuggled in as soya beans

State Customs seized 192,000 cartons of smuggled cigarettes at Senari Port on Friday.

The cigarettes, worth RM1.6 million, arrived at the port last Thursday and were declared as soya beans from a neighbouring country.

State director Datuk Rusmani Abdul Sukur said the seizure was based on a tip-off.


"We have identified the consignee and agents of the container and are still investigating," he said yesterday.

In Butterworth, state Customs officers seized cigarettes worth RM1.1 million with unpaid duty amounting to RM4.8 million.

State Customs chief Datuk Matrang Suhaili said officers seized 50,000 cartons of "Tex" brand cigarettes from a 40-foot container at the North Butterworth Container Terminal on Sunday.

The consignment, weighing some 40 tonnes, had been declared as "animal feed" from Canada and was addressed to a feed mill in Sungai Bakap, near Nibong Tebal.

Matrang said investigations showed the company was not aware of the import.

A forwarding company supervisor and two haulier drivers had been detained to facilitate investigations.

Negeri Sembilan Customs Seize Cigarettes Worth RM685,056

Negeri Sembilan Customs officers intercepted a lorry after a two-kilometre chase in Terengganu on Tuesday and seized smuggled "kretek" (clove) cigarettes valued at RM138,816 on which duty of RM546,240 had not been paid.
Negeri Sembilan Customs director Mohd Kassim Ismail said they caught up with the lorry at Km79 of Jalan Kuantan-Kuala Terengganu near Kampung Meraga Beris in Kemaman at about 8am.
"Checks revealed that the lorry had a fake plate number and was laden with 8,680 cartons of kretek cigarettes of various brands," he told a news conference at Wisma Kastam here Thursday.
The lorry driver fled into some undergrowth nearby after realising the presence of the Customs officers, he said.

Smokers Sound Off On Tobacco Ban At Andrews Hospital

ANDREWS - Another West Texas hospital is putting the brakes on tobacco. They're banning all smoking and dipping anywhere on the property. The Permian Regional Medical Center (PRMC) in Andrews is the next to go Tobacco Free. They said it's part of a state and nationwide trend. However, some smokers said the trend is forcing them to kick the habit.
"It's everywhere. It's not just the hospitals. It's everywhere," Katherine Morgan, an Andrews Hospital employee and smoker, said. "There's a lot of people that don't even want to come around you if they see you with a cigarette."
It's not unusual to find Katherine Morgan and Tracy Herron taking regular smoke breaks at the Permian Regional Medical Center in Andrews. However, they may give up cigarettes entirely after hosptial officials announced everything inside and out will be smoke free.
"When we do want to have a cigarette, where are we going to have to go to smoke it?" Morgan asked. "So, to me, out of all of it, I feel like we're more or less being pushed to quit. I mean, where are you going to go to smoke?"
The Andrews hospital is one of many facilities throughout West Texas following the state and even nationwide trend. Even in Odessa, the debate continues over whether to ban tobacco in city parks.
"It's not just the hospital pushing it, it's everywhere," Morgan explained. "You can't smoke in a restaurant, you have to be so many feet from any facility to have a cigarette, they're raising the taxes, you can't afford them. There is a combination of things that's actually pushing us to quit. They're trying to make smokers quit."
Hospital officials told NewsWest 9, the idea is to promote healthier lifestyles and to set the example.
"We will be providing medications as well as counseling services," Tasa Watts, Director of Marketing and Public Relations with PRMC, said. "If they would like to quit. We are not making anyone quit. It's a choice. If you want to quit, we will provide the help to quit. If you don't want to quit, you just can't smoke on campus. You can go elsewhere to smoke."
For other PRMC employees, like Tracy Herron, kicking the habit will be a challenge. However, she said the ban may be the little push she needs to make her life healthier.
Hospital officials in Andrews said their ban will go into effect in January. They said they already have several dozen employees signed up to get help to kick the habit. Hospitals in Midland and Odessa have already made the switch to tobacco-free campuses.

Health report to recommend higher 'sin taxes'

A major health care report to be released by the Federal Government today is expected to call for higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.
The Preventative Health taskforce report has been with the Government for several months and is also likely to recommend plans to curb the rate of obesity in Australia, including changes to the way food is marketed and produced.
It is the third and final in a series of reports commissioned by the Government when it came to office. But the Government is yet to respond to any of them.
The Government is already facing calls to put whatever extra revenue is raised through higher taxes directly back into prevention measures.
It will be the second major health report put out in as many days, following yesterday's release of the draft of a National Primary Health care strategy.
The head of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Andrew Pesce, says there is a lot of overlap between the two areas and he wants today's report to recommend changes to funding for GPs and other health professionals.
"We need to identify funding models which allow GPs and health practitioners to spend the time with their patients, which currently isn't remunerated adequately, to make sure that they can incorporate good preventative health strategies into the healthcare plans for those people," he said.
Dr Pesce says the Government's response also needs to go beyond the idea of so-called "sin taxes" on cigarettes and alcohol.
"They are important, but they're old ideas and I think we're working on the law of diminishing returns in those areas," he said.
He says obesity is the next big challenge, with significant changes needed in the way food is sold to people.
"It's pretty obvious if you look around, that Australians are fatter, children are fatter, they need to be convinced to adopt the lifestyle changes."
The director of the Institute of Health Economics and Technology Assessment, Paul Gross, agrees that obesity should be the main target for a preventative health strategy.
He says the Government will need to consider more creative solutions, rather than just raising taxes.
"Elsewhere in the world, governments, employers and others are offering incentives to individuals to lose weight, and they are losing weight and holding their weight loss," he said.
"We haven't even tried that yet."
But he says any money raised through higher taxes must be quarantined for prevention programs to ensure they are adequately funded.
"People might pay more for something where they can see what the use of the money might be," he said.
"But they will not be happy if we just hit people with cigarette taxes and alcohol taxes where the revenue is used in some way they can't see."
Along with the National Hospitals and Health Reform Commission Report, the Government now has three reviews of the health system awaiting its response.
But with the Henry review of taxation not due until the end of this year, any decision on new preventative measures may take some time.
The health reports will be considered by state and federal governments at a Coalition of Australian Governments meeting next month.