Police bust fake Nike shoe smugglers

[skippy]

Police bust fake Nike shoe smugglers

Tue Sep 5, 7:22 PM ET

PHOENIX (Reuters) - U.S. police have seized thousands of pairs of fake Nike sneakers and charged six men in connection with one of the largest busts of counterfeit goods in recent U.S. history, authorities said on Tuesday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents told a news conference in Tucson, Arizona, the ring imported 135,000 pairs of knock-off Nike Air Jordan shoes from China with a retail value of $16 million (8.4 million pounds), between May and July of this year.

The conspirators packed the shoes into 15 shipping containers and attempted to bring them into the United States while creating a false paper trail indicating they had in fact been reexported to Mexico, investigators said.

"This case represents one of the most significant investigations into counterfeit goods in recent U.S. history," ICE special agent Roberto Medina said. It "is a victory for both consumers and legitimate businesses." he added.

The defendants, two U.S. citizens and four of unspecified nationality, were arraigned in Arizona last month on charges including bribery of a public official and conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods.

Three defendants are being held in federal jail, while two have been released on bail and a sixth remains on the run.

Nike Inc., the world's top athletic shoemaker, is among hundreds of manufacturers of high-end consumer goods whose brands are knocked off by counterfeiters in an illicit global trade valued at $650 billion a year.

The investigation, which also involved U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, tracked shipping containers to ports in Long Beach, California, and to land crossings at Nogales, Arizona, and Laredo, Texas.

As part of an ongoing investigation, CBP officers said they are inspecting a further 62 ocean-going containers at ports of entry in California and Texas.