Haul of fake goods grounded at airport
Trainers, bags, headphones and clothes worth £1m seized
BORDER force officers have seized over £1million of fake goods in just three days at East Midlands Airport.
The haul included dodgy Christian Louboutin shoes worth £41,000, fake Beats headphones worth £75,000 and Chanel handbags worth £34,000.
An amazing 850 pairs of counterfeit Nike trainers worth £85,000 were seized on a flight from China.
In total 8,100 items were seized in the clampdown which adds to the £4.5 million of fake goods claimed since last November.
Paul Harper, Border Force Assistant Director at the airport said: “People may think buying a cheap product from a website or market stall is harmless, but the fact is money from the sale of counterfeits often goes to fund organised crime.
“Anyone buying into this trade may be funding all sorts of illegal activities like drug smuggling, human trafficking, or child labour.
“People should also think about their own safety – counterfeit electrical goods like phone chargers and hair straighteners undergo none of the safety testing of genuine products, making them potentially lethal. Fake make-up can contain all sorts of nasty ingredients like arsenic, lead and cyanide.
“The criminal gangs making huge profits from counterfeiting are organised and savvy - constantly developing new products.
“Border Force’s efforts to stop them will continue and I urge members of the public to think twice before buying products which put money into their pockets.”
Illegally imported goods are tested to see if they are the genuine product. Any fakes will be destroyed.
Genuine rights holders can then pursue prosecutions against those importing and selling the fake goods.