The customs officials discovered a suspicious courier shipment at Frankfurt Airport consisting of a total of 56 items, including a large number of potentially counterfeited handbags and wallets, shoes, scarves, and football jerseys. Counterfeit labels of well-known brands were also found in the shipment.
The suspicion of counterfeiting was subsequently confirmed by product experts from the affected original manufactuers, who supported the customs officials in their work. “We see ourselves as partners of the private sector,” commented Isabell Gillmann, spokesperson for the Frankfurt Customs Office, in discussing the successful cooperation. “The struggle against the trade in goods that injure brand rights belongs to the core tasks of the Customs Office.“
The confiscated counterfeits violated the intellectual property rights of 32 businesses in total. The intervention of the Customs Office succeeded in preventing “financial damages in the sum of more than one million euro,” continued Gillmann. The illegal imitations are now to be be destroyed.
