Huge counterfeit clothes racket made over £500k
Crooks ran black market business from inner city storage units
AMASSIVE fake clothes operation made more than £500,000 selling counterfeit Nike, Adidas, Armani and Stone Island goods out of Birmingham, a court heard.
The black market racket was set up in storage units in and around the Tyseley area where the ‘poor quality’ items were sold face-to-face and on Gumtree.
Usman Sikander, 33, was ‘heavily involved’ in the business and was present when one of the units was raided. Wasim Mehmood, 28, was an ‘active facilitator’, allowing his details and passport to be used to rent one of the premises converted into a makeshift distribution centre.
Both men, living at different address in Havelock Road, Sparkhill, were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court.
Sikander, who admitted 38 offences of possession of goods with a false trade mark for sale, was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years.
Despite evidence showing £588,000-worth of transactions went through his bank accounts, he was only ordered to repay £25,000 after the court heard he had been potentially ‘exploited’ by others with access to his finances.
Mehmood, who pleaded guilty to eight similar offences, was handed a community order under which he must carry out 12 days of rehabilitation activity and 50 hours unpaid work as part of his community order.
He was only told to repay only £1 despite investigators identifying more than £11,000 of possible ‘benefit’ from the scheme
John Millington, prosecuting, said trading standards officers raided a storage building at Baker Street in July 2018 and recovered 66 boxes of clothing. The unit was ‘clearly set up for the distribution of counterfeit clothing’, adding samples were found to be ‘poor quality’ fakes which ‘undermined genuine brands’.
In October that year officers then
executed a warrant at Sikander’s home and recovered more than £38,000 in cash from a bedroom as well as two phones and various documents. Later that same month a unit
at Bizspace Business Park was searched. Another 75 boxes containing counterfeit items were seized.
Sikander’s phone contained more than 1,000 adverts for online selling site Gumtree. He was interviewed but largely replied ‘no comment’ apart from saying he ‘didn’t know they were counterfeit clothes’, said the prosecutor.
As the investigation continued enforcement consultants contacted a seller on Gumtree which ultimately led them to a storage unit in James Road. More counterfeit clothes as well as fake perfume were found at the premises. Enquiries established Mehmood had provided his name and passport in order for the unit to be leased out.
Mr Millington said ‘vast sums of money’ passed through Sikander’s accounts, including payments for various vehicles.
Abdul Kapadia, defending Sikander, said his client had a history of mental health rendering him ‘vulnerable and open to be exploited’.
Adam Wieczerzak, defending Mehmood, said he had a more ‘limited’ role which only lasted three months.
Judge Simon Drew KC said Sikander was ‘heavily involved’ in the scheme but added: “I have no doubt there must have been others higher up the chain for whom you were somebody being targeted and used.”
He told Mehmood: “You were an active facilitator of criminal activity. You were a key part in the whole process.”