Pirate pants warning as Border Force seizes 80,000 packs of fake Calvin Kleins

 Counterfeit Calvin Klein underpants worth £1.5million were seized by Border Force officers after being smuggled into Britain.

The seizure of 82,320 packs of the fake designer underwear in recent weeks has prompted a warning to bargain-hunting Christmas shoppers.

It comes on top of the discovery of 1,440 counterfeit Superdry hoodie tops worth £100,000, 450 fake Dyson fans and Apple chargers worth £180,000, along with 2,112 Spiderman, Pokemon and Hello Kitty hand-held fans worth more than £30,000. In a two-day operation at East Midlands Airport in November, Border Force officers seized 5,767 items with an estimated retail value of £2.6million. Among these were Louis Vuitton, Diesel, Hublot and Bulgari watches, Nike trainers and football tops.

Sean Gigg, Border Force higher officer at Southampton Dock, warned shoppers to beware of counterfeit merchandise. He said: “Naturally at Christmas we are going to see a lot more counterfeits being intercepted. You think you are buying a genuine product but it’s not really, it’s a counterfeit product that hasn’t been tested for safety standards.”