Good call! £350k of knock-off phones and gear found in shop raid
STORE OWNER SPARED JAIL OVER HAUL OF 10,900 FAKE GOODS
THOUSANDS of knock-off phones, accessories and game controllers worth almost £350,000 were found at a shop.
Trading standards officers raided the Mr Parts store in Strangeways – owned by Harish Chokra – in August 2017 after receiving a tip-off from colleagues in Leicester.
Inside the premises, on Moulton Street, they found a huge amount of dodgy goods imitating brands like Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Sony and Playstation.
Officers were told by Mr Chokra, 30, the 10,937 counterfeit items had been imported from
China. He had no paperwork to back up his claims. Mr Parts went bust after the goods were seized. Mr Chokra, as the company’s director, was taken to court by Manchester council.
Mr Chokra, of Cheetham Hill Road, initially pleaded not guilty to eight counts of possession of counterfeit goods. He later changed his plea to guilty on seven counts, which was accepted by the prosecution. Mr Chokra was handed a 14-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, at Manchester Crown Court. A forfeiture order was also made against the counterfeit goods. Mr Chokra will face no further costs. The seizure was described by Manchester council’s executive member for neighbourhoods Coun Rabnawaz Akbar as a ‘big victory.’
He said: “We have consistently said that the counterfeit goods industry is not a victimless crime, and that it has known links to serious crime, to modern day slavery and the drug trade.
“Action such as this reminds us that we need to keep doing everything in our power to shut these traders down.
“I’d like to thank our investigating officers and legal team who ensured this successful conviction and to send out a message that if you are trading fake merchandise in Manchester, be certain that we will shut you down.”