US Customs Seize Louis Vuitton, Dior and Chanel Fakes
April 07, 24.jpg)
(IDEX Online) - A shipment of fake bracelets, earring, rings, and necklaces branded as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel and Gucci has been seized by Customs in the USA.
The 364 items would have had a combined retail value of over $482,000, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
They were dispatched from Hong Kong and addressed to a private residence in Hutchinson, Minnesota.
"Officers were able to determine these items bore counterfeit marks as the shipment was mis-manifested, the merchandise was of poor quality, lacked labels, and had incorrect packaging," said a CBP spokesman.
The items were seized on 2 April for infringing the designers' protected trademarks. Counterfeit goods are widely used to launder money and fund criminal activity, said the spokesman.
Last year CBP seized a total of nearly 23m counterfeit items with a retail value, if genuine, of $2.4bn.
Pic courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection