• The investigators of the judicial police got their hands last Wednesday on 260,000 counterfeit items, which were hidden in cardboard boxes stored in Seine-Saint-Denis.
  • Seven people were arrested and indicted in this case.
  • The case had begun in February 2022. Three men had been arrested at the exit of the pound of Villeneuve-la-Garenne (Hauts-de-Seine), in a utility. More than 4,000 counterfeit items were discovered in the vehicle.

"These are industrial quantities," describes a police source. Investigators from the OCRFM, the Central Office for the Repression of Counterfeiting, discovered last Wednesday, hidden in three warehouses in Seine-Saint-Denis, boxes filled with counterfeit goods. A total of 260,000 items were seized: 228,000 shoes and 32,000 pieces of textiles, t-shirts, or tracksuits. They thus put a stop to this "organized and structured network", composed of "wholesalers or semi-wholesalers" who sold products on markets, at flea markets but also in some shops. Seven suspects were arrested. At the end of their police custody, they were charged and placed in pre-trial detention.

The case begins in February 2022. Three men are arrested at the exit of the pound of Villeneuve-la-Garenne (Hauts-de-Seine), in a utility. Inside the vehicle are discovered more than 4,000 counterfeit items of 35 different brands. A judicial investigation is then opened in order to find the supplier. Fifteen months later, investigations by judicial police investigators have uncovered 700 m3 of goods, mainly shoes. The items are pale copies of luxury brands, and were made in China.

A growing phenomenon

"The resale value of the goods on the counterfeit market is estimated at least 8 million euros," says OCRFM. But authentic items sell for much more in stores. The value of the stock is still being evaluated by the 27 brands that have been victimized. "There are consequences for these brands: they don't sell as much as they could, and they suffer unfair competition and therefore a loss of customers. But also for public finances, since these goods are not declared, and taxes are not paid. »



According to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the global trade in counterfeit goods is worth nearly $500 billion a year, or 2.5% of all world trade. Counterfeiting "accounts for 6% of overall imports into the EU. It is an old but growing phenomenon that is taking on an industrial dimension," says one Commissioner. It is facilitated by e-commerce and the development of international trade with China and with Turkey, which is close to Europe. The France is the second most affected country in the world, behind the United States and ahead of Italy.

"A very lucrative business"

For criminal organizations, trafficking in counterfeit goods has an advantage: "it is a very lucrative activity and less risky than traditional trafficking," OCRFM continues, adding that it is linked to other types of offenses, such as "tax fraud, concealed work, human trafficking, money laundering." Police officers also alert consumers to the risks to their health. "They use dangerous products to make them. When we opened the boxes to make an inventory of this stock, there were terrible smells emanating from it. Smells of solvents, plastics, out of all proportion to the smell of a real shoe. »

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