Shoppers warned of fake goods as counterfeit items seized

COUNTERFEIT goods including more than £1.5m worth of “Calvin Klein” underpants are among thousands of fake items seized by Border Force officers in the run-up to Christmas.

Shoppers are being warned against buying fake goods as they hunt for bargains during the festive season.

Among the items seized at UK ports and airports in recent weeks were 82,320 pairs of “Calvin Klein” underpants worth about £1.5m, and 1,440 “Superdry” hoodie tops worth about £100,000 at Southampton port.

Also found at the Hampshire port were 450 counterfeit Dyson fans and Apple chargers worth about £182,500 and 2,112 Spiderman, Pokemon and Hello Kitty hand-held fans worth about £31,680.

Some 16,000 Gillette Mach 3 razor blades worth about £143,840 were seized at Heathrow Airport and 1,530 Pandora charms worth about £45,900 at Manchester Airport.

A total of 379 Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund football shirts were found at Dover Port worth about £16,149, and 48 pairs of Nike Vapormax trainers worth about £5,760 were found at Manchester Airport. Also, during a two-day operation held at East Midlands Airport in November, Border Force officers seized 5,767 items with an estimated retail value of £2.6m, including 485 Louis Vuitton, Diesel, Hublot and Bulgari watches worth about £1.4m.