MetaFilter posts tagged with smuggling

Sister Ping and the Golden Venture

reenum — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:11:13 -0800

Cheng Chui Ping came to the US like many others from the Fujian province in China. Through hard work and determination, she rose in the ranks of New York City's Chinatown business community. But, "Sister Ping" was not one to follow laws if it didn't suit her. Among the snakeheads who engaged in human trafficking, none were better than her. Working with notorious gangsters, Sister Ping set up a global network to help smuggle Fujianese immigrants into the US. Sean Chen and others were among those who were on the ill fated trip that ultimately sent Sister Ping to prison. Their ordeals were not over either. Many spent years in immigration detention centers, waiting to enter the country they had endured so much to get to. Sister Ping is due to be released from prison in 2030.

China's Marlboro Country

chunking express — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:12:09 -0800

China's Marlboro Country: The strange, underground world of counterfeit cigarettes.

The other kind of free trade

Abiezer — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:07:02 -0800

Smuggler's Britain tells "the fascinating story of smuggling in 18th and 19th century Britain, when high taxes led to an dramatic increase in illegal imports. As the 'free trade'" grew, smugglers openly landed contraband in full view of the customs authorities: columns of heavily-armed thugs protected the cargoes." Includes a gazetteer with Google maps links so you can scope out some lonely cove to land contraband of your own in the footsteps of your forefathers and introduces you to famous smugglers like Isaac Gulliver, who never killed a man in a long career. Though of course, it was an enterprise where things often would turn ugly.

Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics

KokuRyu — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:09:31 -0800

Caught smuggling, tobacco firms pay $1-billion in penalties. Two of Canada's big three tobacco companies will pay more than $1-billion in criminal and civil penalties for orchestrating the wholesale shipment to the United States of cigarettes that were smuggled back into Canada and resold at bargain prices. Tax-free cigarettes poured south (from Canada to the US) by the truckload, most commonly through the porous St. Regis Mohawk Akwesasne reserve, near Cornwall, Ont., which straddles the U.S.-Canadian border. From there they were distributed to smugglers who brought them back to Canada to be resold on the street and in convenience stores (tax free). Anti-smoking groups have mixed feelings about Big Tobacco fines in this instance. "If you or I had any intention of defrauding the government of a couple of million dollars, we'd be thrown in jail," said François Damphousse, the Non-Smokers' Rights Association's Quebec director. "Why aren't the executives facing such charges for having defrauded the government of billions of dollars?" (Key executives who orchestrated the smuggling operation in the early 90s have avoided jail time). But the bigger issue is a massive C$10 billion lawsuit brought by British Columbia against the tobacco industry. The province is suing for state-sponsored health-care costs allegedly racked up because of the effects of tobacco products...the trial is to start in late 2010...(and is seen) as an attempt by politicians to destroy an industry they regard as immoral. [The same two tobacco companies, RJN and Philip Morris, have gotten into trouble in the past for essentially smuggling cigarettes into the EU. More info here .][Also, how cigarettes funded the Balkan Wars.]

What Gets Left Behind

netbros — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:17:43 -0800

Federal and state government officials and border activists say the garbage dumped in the Sonoran Desert by illegal immigrants and their smugglers is staggering. The cleanup is costing taxpayers millions. The Southern Arizona Project(pdf) is a multi-year program setup by the Bureau of Land Management to mitigate the impacts to the ecology by illegal immigration and smuggling. In 2006 alone, more than 1.18 million pounds of trash was collected along the southern Arizona border.

Inside one of the biggest antiquities-smuggling rings in history.

dhruva — Mon, 14 May 2007 20:01:16 -0800

The Idol Thief "Vaman Ghiya operated one of the most extensive and sophisticated clandestine antiquities rings in history, and he had grown rich in the past three decades by smuggling thousands of Indian antiques to auction houses and private collectors in the West."

"It is difficult to understand the actions of the US government."

EarBucket — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 16:24:10 -0800

The Swiss are investigating an international smuggling ring suspected of providing nuclear program components to Libya. There's just one problem. Meanwhile, the United States is opening full diplomatic relations with Libya and removing it from its list of nations that sponsor terrorism.

Profits for some, jailtime for others

AlexReynolds — Mon, 30 May 2005 10:22:36 -0800

If you're not Cheney's friend, be careful what you sell overseas - While residing in Poland, British citizen Ali Manzarpour was arrested for the export of a Berkut 360, a small kit plane manufactured in the United States, to Iran. The issues surrounding this application of American law overseas on foreign nationals notwithstanding, the US Department of Justice Attorney's office could not explain what sensitive technologies were in the plane, which could motivate the arrest. Coincidentally, Halliburton's use of a Cayman Islands subsidiary to trade with Iran without restrictions remains unresolved, and, with the help of the Department of State, the United States remains the largest arms dealer in the world.

Looting Asia's antiquities

homunculus — Sun, 26 Oct 2003 14:41:08 -0800

The trade in stolen Asian relics is booming. TIME reports on how cultural sites are being looted and precious artifacts smuggled overseas. Sometimes they're returned, but much of Asia's cultural heritage is being lost.

catatonic — Mon, 28 Jan 2002 08:23:44 -0800

Speaking of bibles, a man gets 2 years in prison in China for smuggling them to an underground Christian organization. Nothing like religious tolerance.

yevge — Fri, 04 Jan 2002 13:46:20 -0800

Israel Captures 50 tons of weapons smuggled from Iran on a Palestinian ship. Palestinians claim the ship has nothing to do with them, even though Israel asserts that the ship's captain and officers are all Palestinian Naval officers. Palestine says it is an Israeli attempt to ruin the mission of the American, Zinni. I think Palestinians are lying here (similar to what they have always done) ... What do you think?

Steven Den Beste — Thu, 05 Apr 2001 09:41:35 -0800

Perry Wacker gets a 14 year sentence. For killing attempting to smuggle 60 people into the UK, he was sentenced to 8 years in prison. For killing 58 of them he was sentenced to a further 6 years. He should have gotten the death sentence, or at least life-without-parole. Why was he charged with manslaughter instead of murder?

chaz — Fri, 21 Jul 2000 22:30:51 -0800

Hizbollah supporters arrested for Cigarette smuggling.

The men may have netted up to $10,000, and according to an "confidential Canadian source" were under orders to buy night vision goggles for Hizbollah, which is considered a terrorist group by Israel and the United States. Their leader is said by another(?) source as being "very comfortable around weapons."

I don't think it's a coincidence that this story is coming to our attention during the peace talks at Camp David. There's nothing in any article I have read on this story giving any substantial proof that these people and their arrest were really front-page events. Does anyone else feel that reportage of the Middle East, and indeed US policy, is clouded and indeed skewed, perhaps in much the same way as the States' Cuba policy?