The Civil Guard has seized 284,036 items of clothing, bags and insignia of well-known counterfeit trademarks that the owners of an industrial warehouse in Pinto intended to distribute in the market.
It was the agents of the Fiscal and Border unit who, within the framework of various inspections carried out in October, located in Pinto an industrial warehouse with a high volume of movement and multiple branded garments scattered around that had apparently been counterfeit, reported the Madrid Command of the armed institute.
The agents requested an expert opinion on the brands whose garments had been falsified and it was confirmed that the 121,478 caps, 95,400 purses, 53,400 scarves, 23,778 bucket hats and 5,334 bags seized were fraudulent, which is why they were withdrawn from the market.
In addition, numerous backpacks, bag straps, glasses and more than 23,000 badges ready to be placed were seized.
The phenomenon of counterfeiting, warns the Civil Guard, is transversal and its eradication is the responsibility of both public and private entities, as it has effects on the labor market and the economy.
According to a report prepared by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), counterfeits destroy around 45,000 jobs a year in Spain and cause losses of almost 6 million euros in sales.
Furthermore, the report emphasizes, it encourages unfair competition, promotes the underground economy, is an activity commonly controlled by organized crime - it is the most lucrative criminal trafficking, after arms trafficking - and entails the exploitation of irregular or street sellers.
