NI minister launches anti-counterfeiting Xmas drive

Christmas shoppers in Northern Ireland were urged today not to give festive presents to organised crime by buying from counterfeiters.

Northern Ireland Security Minister Ian Pearson called on shoppers to support legitimate retailers by thinking about what they were buying and who they were buying it from.

Launching the anti-counterfeit Christmas message, the minister said that despite the overwhelming desire of the people of Northern Ireland for a normal and peaceful society, legitimate business was “still being undermined by a criminal underworld intent on flooding the market with illicit and fake goods”.

Speaking in Coleraine, Mr Pearson said that be it clothes, music, DVDs or alcohol being bought, shoppers needed to ensure they were buying from legitimate sources.

“When you buy fake goods, organised crime gangs – the vast majority of whom in Northern Ireland are linked to paramilitary organisations – are benefiting from your purchases and legitimate traders are suffering as a result,” said Mr Pearson.

This year it went further than that, he said.

“You can this Christmas buy the Band Aid 20 single from a legitimate retailer and help the starving people of Darfur. Or you can buy it from an illegal retailer and help the criminals. The choice is yours.”

Mr Pearson said his message was simple: “Don’t make this Christmas a gift for organised crime.”