Cops caught with counterfeit cigs

Sunday, June 19, 2011

HEAD of the Flying Squad Superintendent Cornwall "Bigga" Ford was yesterday tight-lipped about the arrests of three policemen who were found with more than J$350,000 worth of counterfeit cigarettes.

The cops — a corporal and two constables, who were reportedly assigned to the Constant Spring Police Station — were arrested after the service vehicle in which they were travelling was stopped and searched at the Norman Manley International Airport early yesterday morning.

"Can't really say anything now. The investigation is still fresh," Ford said when contacted by the Sunday Observer yesterday afternoon.

Asked how long the detained policemen had been under surveillance prior to their arrest, Ford responded: "If we are now asking persons to come in and give statements against them [then] that means that a little thing [investigation] must have been going on from before," he said.

It was not immediately clear whether or not any of the officers had been officially charged for possession of the contraband.

Last month, Richard Pandohie, managing director of Carreras Jamaica — a subsidiary of British American Tobacco Company (BAT), and the exclusive local distributor of cigarette brands Dunhill, Matterhorn, Craven A and Rothmans — complained that the proliferation of counterfeit cigarettes islandwide was hurting business.

He alleged that unscrupulous persons and major players in the black market have been able to avoid taxation, making it easier for them to undersell legitimate traders and flood the market with contraband and counterfeit goods.

"We estimate that the counterfeit and contraband trade accounts for over 40 per cent of the market," Pandohie said then, noting that Carreras's previous control of the legal industry "has shrunk dramatically" as a result.

The police are asking persons who can help with the investigation into yesterday's seizure to call Flying Squad investigators at 922-2373, Operation Kingfish at 811, Crime Stop at 311, or the Police Control Centre at 119.