23 June 2010

How'd this tonne of tobacco get in my Lebanese bathroom products?

| johnboy
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The ABC has an intriguing bit of court reporting on the travails of Canberra’s Sam AlHassan who had the misfortune to discover 147 boxes of Iranian tobacco in his container of “bathroom and building products shipped from Lebanon”.

The jury was played a recording of the search in which the chief investigator is heard asking AlHassan about the boxes of tobacco.

He replies “it’s a bit funny, they weren’t meant to be in this container”.

As the excise goes up and up we’re going to see a lot more of this sort of thing. And once the illicit routes get opened up all sorts of other nasties will follow.

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screaming banshee said :

It would appear he was innocent until proven guilty standover tactics proved he was innocent. Did I hear right on the news that the first trial resulted in a hung jury, the second was aborted owing to jury dismissal because the defendant’s associate was caught taking photos of the jury, and on the third he was finally found innocent.

Actually no-one can be found innocent, the only options are guilty or not guilty. Even if he is innocent he can only be found not guilty, it’s a fine point but the law is constructed of fine points

screaming banshee9:52 pm 15 Aug 11

It would appear he was innocent until proven guilty standover tactics proved he was innocent. Did I hear right on the news that the first trial resulted in a hung jury, the second was aborted owing to jury dismissal because the defendant’s associate was caught taking photos of the jury, and on the third he was finally found innocent.

ConanOfCooma7:43 am 24 Jun 10

“They were meant to be in THAT container!”

I know a fellow in Canberra who grows his own tobacco, he uses it in his pipe. he has only one lung and coughs and splutters for 30 seconds every time he wants to speak, but each to their own.

amarooresident311:51 am 23 Jun 10

Tobacco smuggling has been big business for years, and is at least as profitable as illegal drug smuggling. According to this article, over the past three years customs seized 715 tonnes of tobacco and 217 million cigarettes in sea cargo.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/where-theres-smokes-20100429-twmg.html

I like how he said “they weren’t meant to be in this container”. Was he expecting them in another?

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