Police seize $11.3m in counterfeit goods in Shrewsbury storage unit

Police in Shrewsbury seized more than $11 million worth of counterfeit purses, sunglasses, clothing, cologne, and other goods from a storage facility after responding to a report of gunshots there last month, officials said Tuesday.

Around 2:30 p.m. on June 17, police received a report of multiple shots fired at the intersection of Holden and Bow streets, officials said in a statement.

Officers searched the area, including the Extra Space Storage facility at 53 Clinton St., where police noticed multiple cars and a person in front of one unit, police said.

Officers entered the unit and saw “what appeared to be thousands of items of merchandise” that were “neatly displayed on shelves, tables and boxes, and laid out in a manner similar to how they would be displayed in a retail store for sale,” police said.

The merchandise included “handbags, sunglasses, hats, shoes, clothing, backpacks, cologne, phone cases, earbuds, and umbrellas,” with high-end brand names such as “Rolex, Gucci, Prada, [Louis] Vuitton, Chanel, Nike, and North Face,” police said.

An interior wall in the storage facility had been removed to connect three adjacent units, and police obtained search warrants for the units and two cars parked at the facility, officials said.

Officers seized 16,644 items from the units with an estimated retail value of $11.3 million and another 19 items from the vehicles that had an estimated value of nearly $45,000, police said.

The Mattapoisett private investigation firm Powers and Associates, which represents more than 60 trademark holders for the purpose of identifying purveyors of counterfeit goods, assisted in the investigation at no cost to the town, police said.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.