Police crackdown on counterfeit clothing network

More than 100 Spanish police officers as well as the Portuguese authorities have participated in a large-scale operation against the production and sale of counterfeit products in the Iberian Peninsula, which has resulted in the dismantling of the main counterfeit clothing network.

This large-scale operation closed with 99 arrests and the confiscation of over 1,000,000 counterfeit products in Alicante, Barcelona, Málaga, Madrid, Orense, Seville, Valencia and Portugal. Production was based in Portugal, where 10 factories have been closed down, and the goods were sold through ‘area delegates’ all over Spain.

The network can be estimated to have sold, over the past two years, 235 tonnes of counterfeit clothing and footwear, bringing in 5,500,000€. The network specialised in the production and the wholesale and retail sale of apparel and footwear that violated Industrial Property rights.

Over 300 operations in 2013
During 2013, Spanish police officers specialising in Industrial and Intellectual Property crime have carried out more than 300 operations relating to Industrial or Intellectual Property, resulting in 924 arrests and confiscation of 4,350,983 counterfeit objects.

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