In January 2014, customs investigators had already begun investigating the smuggling ring consisting of 21 persons. The hearing against the first six suspects began at the Augsburg Regional Court in late September.
The defendants, mostly of Turkish origin, are accused of internationally smuggling counterfeit brand-name clothing and perfume as a criminal enterpise, and of trading in cigarettes and tobacco products for which neither duties nor taxes were paid. The suspects are said to have evaded some 6.2 million euro in taxes altogether.
A special commission was created for the investigations, consisting of customs officials from Nuremberg and Munich specialised in product piracy and tobacco tax evasion. The customs investigators succeeded in confiscating more than 60,000 counterfeit brand-name clothing items such as t-shirts and shorts in the past months, as well as 260,000 illegal imitations of brand-name perfumes. The counterfeit textiles alone had a retail value some 4.5 million euro. The customs officials also confiscated two tons of shisha tobacco and 10.4 million cigarettes.
Evidence seized in the course of the investigations also proves that an additional 33,000 units of counterfeited brand-name perfume, 5.3 tonnes of pipe tobacco, and 1.4 million cigarettes were smuggled. Close cooperation between the authorities in Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland also contributed decisively to the operation’s success.
The defendants, accused of 22 counts of smuggling as members of a criminal enterprise, are now facing a prison sentence from six months to ten years for each offense. Due to its extent, the case was divided into various trials.
