£750,000 Worth of Fake Designer Goods Detained

 

£750,000 Worth of Fake Designer Goods Detained

£750,000 worth of counterfeit designer clothing has been seized at Stanstead Airport. Designer brands including Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Hugo Boss, La Martina and Fred Perry were all seized during the operation.

Customs authorities in Dover, Kent, say they are seizing more fake goods as cheap clothing, counterfeit labels and pirated CDs pour into the country, costing the UK an estimated £3bn in lost revenue.

Sarah Wolstenholme, the UK Border Agency’s assistant director at Stansted Airport, said: “Make no mistake, the manufacture and sale of counterfeit goods is not a victimless crime. The profit that smugglers make from these items is often recycled into other more serious forms of criminality.” 

She then added 

“We often see smugglers adopting quite sophisticated techniques in an attempt to evade detection, but in these three instances there was little subtlety involved.

The items were all listed simply as courier material, with no commercial value. The fact that such limited information had been provided immediately attracted suspicion.” 

Counterfeit products are sold on the black market, meaning the Treasury loses vital revenue which has an impact on all law-abiding taxpayers. 

“Many people enjoy finding a bargain but counterfeit goods are just the tip of the criminal iceberg. Quite simply, if a price appears too good to be true, whether found on the internet or at a car boot sale, it probably is.” 

When suspected counterfeit goods are detained by the UK Border Agency and after the rights holders confirm the products are fakes, it is down to the company whether or not to bring a private prosecution against the importer. After this process is complete, the goods can be destroyed. 

No-one has yet been arrested in connection with the recent findings.

Consumers are being warned that the innocent purchases of counterfeit products from Internet sites and markets are funding terrorist and criminal organisations, including Al-Qaeda, the Mafia and the IRA. The sale of these fake goods, ranging from ‘designer’ clothes to powertools to pharmaceutical products are directly linked to international terrorism and organised crime, according to Carratu International plc, a leading investigator of intellectual property abuse.

Anyone with information about activity they suspect may be linked to smuggling

should call 0800 595 000

 By jennie May Thompson