By Jess Ma

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Hong Kong customs officers have uncovered the department’s largest-ever case involving counterfeit goods sold online, arresting seven people and seizing HK$15 million (US$1.9 million) worth of items, including bogus medications and fake Louis Vuitton and Hermès handbags.
Hong Yan, a senior inspector with the Customs and Excise Department’s intellectual property general investigation unit, said officers arrested four men and three women on Tuesday last week at a storage unit in Yuen Long after beginning investigations in June.
“Customs officers have discovered that the company receiving funds from parcels [of fakes] ordered from the online platform could be traced to a storage unit in Yuen Long,” he said.
The department said the syndicate was believed to have operated on social media and claimed to be selling goods under a local brand for Chinese medicine health supplements, but had also allegedly possessed other types of counterfeit items.
Officers raided the storage unit inside a factory building in Yuen Long and another unit on the premises on September 9, discovering 7,400 counterfeit items.

The bogus items included bogus health supplements, counterfeit Louis Vuitton and Hermès handbags, clothing, watches and other accessories, and fake medicines labelled as Part One poisons.
Substances listed as a Part One poison can only be sold in pharmacies under the supervision of a registered pharmacist.
The seven suspects, aged between 24 and 57, were apprehended inside the storage unit, with two of them listed as directors of the company that occupied the units.
Further investigations revealed that the syndicate had another storage site in Yuen Long and Tsing Yi, where officers had discovered about 200 returned parcels with destination addresses listed as the first storage unit to be raided.
Officers confiscated more than 9,200 pieces of counterfeit goods throughout the operation, with the haul valued at HK$15 million.
“We believe this syndicate would use discounts to lure customers, selling goods at half their market price,” Hong said.
The senior inspector added that syndicate members would also attempt to hide their tracks by sticking new delivery labels on parcels so that the goods would display Hong Kong as their shipping origin.
Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, the maximum penalty for importing or exporting any goods using a forged trademark is a fine of HK$500,000 and five years in prison.