Chile's National Customs Service has made one of the largest seizures of contraband cigarettes in recent months by intercepting a shipment of 515.520 boxes that an importer tried to bring into the country hidden in a container from Panama.
This seizure is the result of the Integrated Cigarette Control Plan (PIF) headed at the national level by the Customs Control Sub-directorate and the intelligence work carried out by the Risk Analysis Unit (UAR) of the Valparaíso Customs, which through documentary review and other parameters was able to determine that this contraband would arrive at the port of Valparaíso.
The importer had declared that the cargo was diapers and baby clothes, but in reality the 40-foot container – the largest one – was filled with cigarettes of the brands Jaisalmer, Queen and Ultima, none of which can be sold in Chile according to the records of the Ministry of Health.
This shipment of cigarettes was valued at US$ 2.289.844. To this must be added the amount of tax evasion, which was calculated at another US$ 2.352.507.
In this regard, the Deputy Director of Inspection of the National Customs Service, Javier Uribe, stressed that “this result is not a product of chance, but of the good work we are doing in risk profiling. Since last year we have been strengthening the work of analysis and the use of non-invasive technology in primary areas.".
He added that “the work we do is carried out in all our Customs offices. We know that there is a latent risk, particularly in maritime cargo. This particular merchandise came from Panama and corresponds to 3 brands of cigarettes, one of them is produced in India and the other two are new, we have no record of them,” adding that with this type of procedure the Service protects people's health by preventing them from consuming products of dubious quality.
As of September 2017, Customs has seized 8 million 535 thousand packets throughout Chile, with an estimated evasion for the same period of US$ 35 million 179 thousand.
Counterfeit and contraband sports goods
In addition, the Customs Service managed to detect a second 40-foot container that arrived at the port, whose importer had indicated that it was transporting household items.
However, inside the warehouse, Valparaíso customs officers discovered thousands of counterfeit and contraband products of various types that were valued at $305 million 619 thousand, in addition to unpaid taxes of $79 million 888 thousand.
El Head of the Customs Line Inspection Department, Carlos EscuderoHe explained that "This is a response to our daily work of risk analysis in all the country's Customs.. Even before they reach national territory, we already have some merchandise that we are going to inspect, as occurred in this case, and we subject it to physical and scanner inspection.”
In this case you are dealing with Nike and Adidas brand products: 8.525 pairs of fake sneakers, 12.500 tracksuits from the Brazilian and French national teams, and 1.800 Football shirts of the Argentina national team and the Boca Junior and River Plate teams, among others.
In addition, 100 projectors, 200 GoPro-type cameras and 29 machines for laser dermatological treatments, such as tattoo removal and hair removal, of unknown origin were smuggled in.
“Now we need to inform the lawyers representing the brands that were found. They will file a complaint under the intellectual property law. In turn, Customs is filing a complaint for smuggling. Depending on what the trial determines, the judge may order the donation of the clothing and the destruction of anything that represents a danger to health, such as laser equipment,” said the Director of the Regional Customs Office of Valparaíso, Myriam Gutiérrez.
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