Fake Apple, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton goods worth more than €100k seized by gardaí

The swoop, part of an ongoing garda operation targeting intellectual property crime, also netted €25k in cash and thousands of euro worth of suspected counterfeit Balenciaga and Hermès items. Picture: An Garda Síochána

Gardaí have seized suspected fake Apple air pods, fake phone cases, luxury goods, and cash during two major swoops in Dublin.

The search operations took place on Friday as part of an ongoing garda operation targeting intellectual property (IP) crime.

Gardaí mounted two searches under warrant, one at a business premises and one at a residential address in the Dublin 1 and Dublin 13 areas, which were conducted by members of the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) Intellectual Property and Counterfeit Investigations Unit, and the Dublin Crime Response Team, assisted by the National Criminal Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Among the items gardaí seized were 180 suspected counterfeit Apple Air Pod Max headphones and 185 suspected fake Otterbox phone cases. Between them, they would represent a revenue loss of about €110,000. Picture: An Garda Síochána

They seized luxury goods, suspected counterfeit items and cash, including:

• 180 suspected counterfeit Apple Air Pod Max headphones, with an estimated loss of revenue of €104,400;
• 185 suspected fake Otterbox mobile phone cases with an estimated loss of revenue of €5,500;
• Luxury goods by brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Balenciaga, and Hermès – with an estimated value of €6,000;
• Some €25,710 in cash.

Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary, Dublin Metropolitan Region, said the Dublin Crime Response Team has once again shown its effectiveness in tackling organised criminal gangs operating across the capital. He said: 

Large-scale IP theft and the associated money laundering offences are controlled by well-structured criminal networks who risk the safety of the public by selling poor quality counterfeit products, often attempting to pass them off as genuine. 

The suspected counterfeit items are now subject to examination. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.