Malta Just Broke An All-Time Record For Catching Fake And Counterfeit Goods
Malta’s fight against intellectual property abuses has been seriously stepped up over the last year as Malta’s Customs Department released new figures showing the extent of their discoveries and findings.
“Albeit a small island, Malta’s Customs Department is one of the best customs entities around the globe in the fight against infringements of Intellectual Property Rights,” the Customs Department said in a statement.
“This IPR Unit, within Customs, was so successful that it was awarded the top global Anti-Counterfeiting Award in 2017. This past year the Unit kept on capitalising on the success by breaking all previous IPR records,” they continued.
The sheer amount of items seized is impressive in itself:
- 91,740 mobile accessories;
- 277,640 hair and beauty products;
- 47.7 million cigarettes;
- 30,492 footballs; and
- 126,660 items of clothing and shoes.
And it’s not just fake items – counterfeit money has been found as well.
Within the Customs Department, the Anti-Money Laundering Team specialises in the control and investigation of undeclared cash movement.
Made up of nine people, “this new team has, perhaps, proved to be one of the biggest success stories in the Department’s recent history, with the section achieving 48 positive cases in ten months, resulting in the collective discovery of 1,052,436 euros,” Customs said.
The Customs Department will be hosting an Open Day this Sunday 22nd, to invite the public to get a closer look at the procedure involved in the search for counterfeit items, so head down to Valletta and get a closer look at this record-breaking facility.
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