Counterfeit automotive parts taken off the streets
French customs have seized over 8,000 illicit car parts. During an inspection in Valence in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southern France in September, they found various products such as window regulators, door openers, and parts of door handles that were not properly labeled as off-brand parts. In total, over 3,700 articles were confirmed as fakes. Based on this success, the officials carried out a subsequent action at the premises of a company located in Châteauroux in the Centre-Val de Loire region in Central France. Here, they found and seized another 4,300 counterfeit car parts.
Thousands of counterfeit pills intercepted at the Channel Tunnel
French authorities have stopped a shipment with about 10,000 fake pharmaceuticals when inspecting a truck at the Channel Tunnel. The fake pills, which appeared to be knock-offs of a potency-enhancing drug, are worth an estimated 90,000 euros. The fakes were to be transported from Great Britain to Poland as alleged express freight packages – however, the products were not individually packaged, nor were any instructions for use included. After the trademark owner’s lab confirmed that the pills as counterfeit, they were destroyed by customs in Dunkerque.
Customs in Latvia prevent losses in the millions for shoe manufacturers
At the Port of Riga, customs officials confiscated two containers of counterfeit sports shoes with a market value of almost 3 million euros. The roughly 24,500 pairs of shoes illegally sporting the Nike brand were noticed as suspicious during a customs inspection. After officials liaised with the brand owner, the products were confirmed as counterfeit. Thanks to the intervention of Latvian customs, the US company was saved from suffering high losses already for several times this year: Around 17,500 fake pairs of Nike shoes had been confiscated prior to this latest find
