$1.6 million in fake goods seized in Puerto Rico in 1 week

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Feb 11, 2016

Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) in San Juan, PR seized over $1.6 million in counterfeit merchandise over the past week, including fakes from brands including Oakley, Gucci and Cartier, all from China.

Nearly 10,000 counterfeit products were seized by CBP at San Juan’s Luis Munos Marin International Airport. The goods seized in the operation ranged from luxury jewelry to medical equipment. Brands whose intellectual property was stolen include Apple, Beats by Dre, Pandora, and Tous, as well as luxury foreign car brands BMW, Porsche, Audi and Mercedes.

The week long operation was carried out by CBP’s Mobile Intellectual Property Enforcement Team (MIPET) as part of a greater plan to crack down on counterfeit goods. All the seized goods were shipped to the US from Chinese vendors.

“Trade intelligence, joint targeting and combining inspectional resources from our partner agencies are all key ingredients to protecting the U.S. economy and consumers from counterfeit products,” said Edward Ryan, Assistant Director of Trade for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.  “We are looking forward to conducting follow-up MIPET operations with our partners to further protect legitimate businesses and consumers from intellectual property thieves.”

CBP’s MIPET is part of a specially trained team positioned to detect intellectual property infringement. It is working jointly with the FDA, Homeland Security, and National Highway Traffic Safety Association in this aggressive crack down on counterfeit goods. MIPET is also trained to enforce intellectual property rights once fake goods are found.