Catalonia: thread at La Jonquera, 16 million euros in counterfeit clothes seized and 8 people arrested

Beware of scams!On the Franco-Spanish border, the Guardia Civil put its hands on more than 16 million euros in clothing counterfeiting, from Portugal and China.Eight people were arrested in Catalonia and 33 are the subject of an investigation, specifies the Spanish police.

In six boutiques of the Jonquera and the Els Limits district in Spain, brand sneakers were spread alongside the clawing or rather counterfeit clothes.Wednesday, July 21, the Spanish Civil Guardia seized more than 60,000 products with a total value of more than 16 million euros, from Portugal and China.

The "frontcopy" operation led to the arrest of eight people, suspected of being involved in this vast counterfeit network.

Thirty-three individuals are the subject of an investigation, specifies the Catalan police.Five warehouses and two households, which were used in particular for the storage of the goods, were identified and 212 kilograms of metal logos of different brands were confiscated.

In total, 200 police officers participated in this intervention.

A well -rooted scam

This fraudulent system was well oiled.False luxury products from Portugal were already ready for sale when they arrived in warehouses.For Chinese clothes, the operating mode was different: the resellers added renowned brand logos themselves.

In 2019, it was an association for the defense of industrial property rights that gave the alert to the Guardia Civil de Girona.This complaint gave rise to the opening of an investigation and a first intervention: at the end of May 2019, 30,000 counterfeit items, valued at more than 7 million euros, had already been seized.

Beware of scams!

Located on the Franco-Spanish border, near Perthus, La Jonquera is a crossing point for many vacationers, and especially for the French.Attracted by the attractive prices of these shops, tourists can easily be trapped.

To avoid unpleasant surprises, the union of manufacturers launched its summer awareness campaign for the dangers of counterfeiting a few days ago.On its website, the Ministry of the Economy also advises consumers to be vigilant:

Counterfeiting grows exponentially, in France, also because of e-commerce.This scourge represents a shortfall for the French economy of more than 8 billion euros per year for the most exposed sectors.