Two on trial over fake cigarettes

By JIMMY KALEBE
TWO foreigners charged with selling counterfeit products were committed to stand trial at the National Court after sufficient evidence was found to commit them on Monday.
Lae Committal Court magistrate Pious Tapil after considering submissions by police prosecutor Snr Const Orpha Nathan, committed Chen Xiadi, 30, and Wu Shu Lan, 31, both from Fujian, China, to stand trial on Dec 12.
In a no-case submission by the defence counsel, the defendants stated that police failed to establish who sold the cigarettes to them and failed to established that the defendants had the intention to cheat, deceive or mislead customers with the counterfeit cigarettes.
The defence counsel submitted that because of these facts, the evidence in the matter was insufficient and did not support the charges and the case needed to be dismissed.
Const Nathan, in her submission on sufficiency of evidence, said the defendants showed they had knowledge of the counterfeit Cambridge cigarettes and deliberately sold them for the purpose and with the intention that any person purchasing the product would think it was the genuine product. She also submitted that in all circumstances on a prima facie basis, there was sufficient evidence to commit the defendants to trial for the offence of knowingly using a counterfeit trade mark contrary to Section 477 (2) (b) of the Criminal Code Act.
Police alleged that Chen and Wu, between Sept 29 and Oct 21, last year, at Nadzab Airport and Sailing Star Enterprise Ltd in Lae sold four cartons of counterfeit Cambridge cigarettes totalling 200 inners valued at K32,000.
On Oct 19, last year, a witness after purchasing a loose counterfeit cigarette from a vendor followed up and found out that the counterfeit products were bought by vendors from Sailing Star Ltd and sold on the streets.
He then reported the matter to police who raised a search warrant.