England announces historic seizure of counterfeit goods

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Mar 23, 2010

Some 50,000 counterfeit goods were seized in London, a record for the local authorities who confiscated false products from Gucci, Versace, Ralph Lauren, Nike and Adidas.

The seizure ended with a joint Anglo-American operation which caught six people in London and nine others in Baltimore in the USA. The figures in this case are colossal, more than 500,000 fakes and some €390,000 in cash were discovered. Those arrested in the USA are accused of having falsified 500 Cartier watches, 10,000 Gucci shoes, 500,000 Coach handbags and 120,000 pairs of Nike shoes. In spite of the record size of this haul, the operation represents just a drop in the water in the British counterfeit goods market, estimated to be worth €3.8 billion annually in Great Britain alone.