Customs Smashes a Street-Selling Syndicate of Forged Trademark Drills

Date: 04/08/2006

Yesterday (4th August), Customs successfully smashed a street-selling syndicate for drills to which a forged trademark was applied. The syndicate made use of a guesthouse as a base and re-labeling facility to apply forged trademarks onto the drills, in an attempt to make profit. During the operation, 41 drills with forged trademarks and another 247 drills in preparation for application of forged trademarks were seized. The value of the seizures is estimated at $170,000. A total of 8 persons were arrested.
As a result of Customs investigation, Mainlanders were discovered to be selling forged trademark drills. Consequently, Customs mounted an operation to tail the members of the syndicate to various locations in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. These places included Central, Mongkok, Shatin, Kwun Tong, Mei Foo, Kwai Chung and Tai Kok Tsui. A total of 7 men and 1 woman, age of between 24 to 46, and holding short-term two-way permits originating from the Mainland were arrested. Another 270 drills were found together with a stack of forged trademark stickers, valued at $170,000.

It was found that all 8 arrested persons belonged to the same syndicate, which made use of guerilla tactics. The syndicate members would tout the merchandise on the streets in order to avoid being detected by law enforcers. They made use of a guesthouse in Mongkok as their base and re-labeling facility to apply the forged trademarks onto the drills. Syndicate members were then sent to various places in the territory to sell the drills to passers by in an attempt to pass off the goods as genuine. The counterfeit drills were of low quality and were sold at around half the price ($500 to $600 each) as compared to the original product (which sells at around $1,000).

Customs would like to advise citizens not to purchase electronic products from unknown sources. Not only do such products bear no warranty, they might not meet the required safety standards and pose a potential domestic hazard.

The maximum penalty for an offence under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance is 5 years imprisonment and a penalty of $500,000, leaving criminal records. Should the public discover any criminal activities relating to trademarks, please call the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 in order to facilitate our further investigation.

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