Police lay out for
display some of the goods confiscated in what they are billing as the
largest ever haul of counterfeit goods on the Eastern Seaboard.
Boonlua Chatree
Department of Special Investigations officers raided
five South Pattaya warehouses, seizing stockpiles of counterfeit goods
with an estimated market value of 50 million baht.
DSI Deputy Director Lt. Col. Jitreepol Thongkhamwan
announced the sweep, which included the arrest of five warehouse
employees, March 1. The unmarked warehouses were found near hotels and
storefronts near Pattaya Bay Walk.
Jitreepol said goods seized, which included knock-off
Chanel, Gucci, Cartier and Louis Vutton jewelry, bags, clothing and
sunglasses, cost about 15 million baht and could be sold for more than
three times that. The haul was the largest-ever in the Eastern Seaboard,
he said.
Five unnamed suspects were charged with violating
copyright and trademark laws, which could earn them up to four years in
prison and 400,000 baht in fines. However, all were temporarily released
as police considered them low-level employees and are pursuing the true
owners of the bogus merchandise.