Designer fakes seized at airport

GARDAÍ have alerted shoppers to the danger of buying counterfeit goods after customs officers at Dublin airport yesterday seized fake designer clothes worth €143,000.

The first consignment of goods consisted of 2,268 hooded tops bearing the French Connection label, FCUK. The second batch was 322 items of counterfeit designer jeans and tops.

With Christmas shopping reaching its peak this week, tens of thousands of counterfeit goods will change hands at markets and stalls.

"At this time of year, there's a huge amount of counterfeit stuff. We would advise people to be very careful with what they buy outside a reputable store," said Det Supt Pat Brehony of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

He asked people to think where their money goes.

"It goes into the hands of criminals. There is also a loss of revenue to the State, not to mention the risk to jobs."

Organised criminals and paramilitaries in Ireland, as well as international terrorists, including al-Qaida, are also heavily involved in counterfeiting, because of the high-profits to be made.

Last week, gardaí in Co Louth broke a massive counterfeit operation, which benefited major figures in the Provisional IRA.

The racket revolved around the manufacture and sale of high-quality false driving licences, insurance certificates and tax disks, as well as forged euro and sterling notes.

The sale of the items stretched from the Border counties of Louth and Monaghan and Cavan to Westmeath, Laois and Dublin.

Criminals both organised gangs and small-time criminals are attracted by the ease of counterfeiting.

"There's more counterfeit software products now, like Playstation and CDs. It's easy to copy onto CD and the quality is quite good," explained Det Supt Brehony.

According to the Irish National Federation Against Copyright Theft (INFACT) one in 10 of all Playstation games sold is pirated.

Supt Brehony particularly warns people about the dangers of buying counterfeit electronic products.

"They're not to the same standard and if something goes wrong there's no one to go back to. It could also damage the hardware."

Clothes, particularly designer and sports clothes, are another big counterfeit seller.

Last week, gardai seized €350,000 worth of fake designer clothes at a market in Tallaght, west Dublin. It followed a haul of €50,000 worth of counterfeit CDs, DVDs and videos at the same market.

Last month, gardaí seized more than €1 million worth of counterfeit sports clothes following five raids in Cork and Kerry.

Much of counterfeit items are seized at ports by customs. There have been 170 seizures so far this year by customs, with a value of over €2.5m - compared to 31 seizures worth €1.4m in 2001.