AN Eastleigh trader has been handed a 12 month suspended sentence for selling fake designer clothes.  Arvinder Singh Kang, 26, was caught selling knock-off Lacoste polo shirts for £10 from his market stall by undercover Hampshire Trading Standards officers.

 The officers seized just over 400 items of clothing, including T-shirts and tracksuits, from his stall and a Mercedes lorry parked nearby at Eastleigh market.  Tests confirmed 369 of the items were counterfeit goods which, if genuine, would have be worth around £9,000.

 Kang, from, Coventry pleaded guilty to eight charges relating to sale and possession of counterfeit clothing contrary to Trade Marks Act 1994.  He told officers he had paid £1,000 cash for the clothes from another trader called Harry who was going out of business.  Kang said the trader told him they were from a connection at discount clothing retailer TK Maxx.

 Southampton Crown Court heard Kang was a small-time trader who had been running his own market business for four years.  Recorder William Andreae-Jones QC handed him a 12 month sentence suspended for 12 months.  He was also ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work for, what the recorder said, was a “fraud not only upon the commercial community but upon customers who bought these things thinking they were genuine.”

 Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber said: “This is an excellent example of the work of Trading Standards officers in protecting the interests of consumers and those reputable businesses that operate within the law across Hampshire. The sentence sends out a strong message that the sale of counterfeit goods will not be tolerated in Hampshire and Trading Standards officers will take robust action to address any such case.”

Birmingham Trading Standards has secured its biggest ever Proceeds of Crime Act award after a company boss, who was convicted of selling counterfeit clothing on an industrial scale, was ordered to repay almost £5.5 million 

Banti Sohal, aged 41, formerly of Bernard Road, Edgbaston, was jailed for three-and-a-half years in April last year after admitting 17 charges under the Trades Mark Act.

He was charged after city council trading standards officers made their biggest ever haul of counterfeit clothing in the West Midlands. Surelock assisted in this investigation together with other trade mark representatives.

They raided a warehouse in Smethwick in November 2008 where they discovered around 100,000 items of fake Nike, Timberland, Fred Perry, Drunknmunky, Ecko Rhino, Sean John and Henri Lloyd clothing.

Had the clothing been genuine it would have been worth up to £9 million but the estimated street value was £6 million.

NR Sohal and Sons’ registered premises was a shop in City Road, Edgbaston, but just a short distance away it had a huge warehouse in Heath Street, Smethwick, where the counterfeit clothing, imported from China, was stored.

The £5,380,000 confiscation order was made at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, March 18 2011.

Two Traders Sentenced for Selling Fake Goods

Two traders caught selling fake goods pleaded guilty and were sentenced at Harrow Crown Court on 6^th August 2010 for a number of trade mark offences. 

Habib Melloul (aged 28) of Shrewsbury Street, Kensington and Chelsea was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and ordered to pay £2,000 in prosecution costs to the London Boroughs of Brent & Harrow Trading Standards Service. 

His wife, Aisha Melloul (aka Caryl Hubbard), aged 28, who was also involved in the business, was given a six month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to perform 80 hours of unpaid community work. In addition, she was ordered to pay £3,000 towards the cost of the prosecution,

The court heard Habib Melloul and Aisha Melloul were jointly involved in the purchase, storing and onward distribution of counterfeit shoes, clothing and bags.  The goods were sold at Wembley and Portobello markets and on e-Bay and Amazon websites.

Court Confiscates £254,000 from Counterfeit Goods Dealer

On Monday 23rd August 2010 at Inner London Crown Court, Brent & Harrow Trading Standards Service secured the confiscation of £254,000 from Nazakat Hussain after he was caught dealing in counterfeit goods from Wembley Market. His Honor Judge Chapple made the order for this confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and gave him six months to pay up.

Confiscation proceedings were instituted last year following the successful conviction of Mr Hussain by Brent & Harrow Trading Standards Service, which resulted in him being sentenced to two years in prison for supplying counterfeit goods from stalls at Wembley market. The Trading Standards Service used the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which came into force to strip criminals of their ill gotten gains, to expose Mr Hussain’s finances and assets over a six year period. These detailed investigations revealed that Mr Hussain owned three houses, a business premise, a six series convertible BMW and that he had thousands of pounds in various bank accounts. All of these assets were then subject to restraint orders imposed by Brent & Harrow Trading Standards Service in order to prevent them from disappearing.

 During the hearing on 23rd August 2010, the court accepted that Mr Hussain had benefited to the value of £600,000 from his criminal activities and that the amount available to him to pay was £254,000.

 Mr Hussain will now have to pay the order in full within the next six months or he will face serving a default prison sentence, which was set at 3 years. Should he serve a term in prison in default for non payment of the order, he would still owe the full amount. Furthermore, any outstanding balance after the six months deadline would start attracting interest.

LET US TAKE YOUR COUNTERFEITS OFF THE STREET

• During 2008 we seized approximately £12,400,000 million worth of counterfeit clothing and merchandise jointly on behalf of our clients, we carried out a number of pro-active operations, involving observations and surveillance and as a result of which we raided 15 x retail outlets; 11 x wholesalers / internet warehouses; 25 x markets; conducted 17 x authentication examinations on behalf of UK, and German Customs authorities, 10 x authentication examinations on behalf of UK Police Forces and 136 x authentication examinations on behalf of various trading standards authorities all over UK.

• 2009 was our most successful year yet, we seized approximately £15,000,000 million worth of counterfeit clothing and merchandise jointly on behalf of our clients nationwide, we have continued to cultivate a number of good quality informants at the heart of these criminal activities whose accurate information has assisted us and the authorities to bring about these results, we have in actual fact been commended by the authorities on a number of occasions for this accurate intelligence. We have carried out a number of pro-active operations, involving observations and surveillance and as a result of which we raided 33 x retail outlets; 14 x wholesalers / internet warehouses; 41 x markets; conducted 55 x authentication examinations on behalf of UK, and European Customs authorities, 15 x authentication examinations on behalf of UK Police Forces and 155 x authentication examinations on behalf of various trading standards authorities all over UK.

The seizure of clothes, shoes and CDs was made from 11 stalls on Saturday (March 6). The fake brands being sold included High Street names such as Nike, Adidas, D&G, Fred Perry, DKNY, Ecko, Ed Hardy, Christian Audigier, True Religion, Ugg, Armani, Gucci, Dior, Levis, Moschino, and Prada. The items are still being counted, so the street value of the haul has yet to be estimated.

Stallholders will now be interviewed and face prosecution. Offenders face unlimited fines or up to 10 years in prison.

The seizure follows a similar operation in November, when more than 5,500 counterfeit CDs and DVDs were seized from three stalls at the market.

Keith Emsall, Executive Member for Community Safety and Culture, said: “Hertfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service see tackling intellectual property crime as a priority. Not only do consumers get ripped off, it also hurts legitimate local businesses – many of whom are already struggling in the current economic climate.

“It’s extremely disappointing that Bovingdon Market continues to be a source of illegal goods. We will continue to work with our partners to tackle the problems at the market and would like to thank the police for their assistance on Saturday.”

Sgt Tessa Barrow, of Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Hemel Neighbourhood team, said: “This was a tremendous effort between ourselves and trading standards to tackle the sale of counterfeit goods at Bovingdon market. Operations like this are conducted to protect the public and I would urge anyone who may have any suspicions about the sale of counterfeit goods to contact police on 0845 33 00 222, or alternatively Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.”

Members of the public can also report sales of counterfeit goods to Consumer Direct on 08454 040506. Hertfordshire businesses needing advice should contact Hertfordshire Trading Standards’ business advice line on 01727 813849.

Surelock operatives worked closely with Hertfordshire Trading Standards gathering intelligence that identified the worst stalls and stall holders who were targeted on the day.