Counterfeit Christmas crackdown seizes fake goods haul

Two people were arrested in the raid in which a wide range of counterfeit goods were seized, including Hunter Wellington boots, Ugg boots, Lacoste polo shirts, Adidas tracksuits and Dr Dre headphones.

Officers believe the goods were sold to order through a Facebook account with 1,800 friends and were delivered in person to customers.

Two houses in Beeston were also raided and around 200 counterfeit DVD box sets were seized including Mrs Brown’s Boys, The Walking Dead, Homeland and Smash.

A man and woman were arrested in connection with the sale of the goods.

The raids coincided with an announcement last week that the Government is setting up a new enforcement unit to tackle the sale of pirate copies of music and film available online.

Coun Mick Murphy, chairman of Notts County Council’s community safety committee, said it is likely the counterfeit goods were targeting the Christmas market - depriving honest and legal businesses of trade during an important’ period.

“Counterfeit products are usually inferior quality and often fund organised crime so we urge local residents to steer clear of such goods,” he said.

“However, it is not always obvious when buying off the internet whether an item is genuine so if its price appears too good to be true then it is likely to be counterfeit.”

He added: “Traders are now using social media to sell their fake wares so we are keeping a close eye on such sites as Facebook to combat this issue.”

“We hope these two raids send out a clear message to other counterfeit traders that we will not tolerate the sale of fake goods and will come down hard on those involved in this activity.”