The Civil Guard has intervened 25,714 counterfeit items of high-end brands, valued at more than six million euros, in an operation carried out in the province of Santa Cruz of Tenerife.
In the operation, called Label39 people have been investigated as alleged perpetrators of crimes against industrial property, according to the Civil Guard.
The operation began last May when the Civil Guard proceeded to carry out surveillance services for different commercial establishments located on all the islands of the province (Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro) where they detected the sale of multitude of counterfeit products.
Once the establishments were identified, a device was deployed to simultaneously carry out inspections with the aim of avoiding warnings among merchants of police intervention.
The Civil Guard reports that as a result of this device, the agents managed to locate a total of 41 stores, mostly bazaars, verifying that they were dedicated to the sale of a large number of counterfeit items from high-end brands of various kinds, such as: clothing, bags, wallets, belts, footwear, sunglasses, perfumes, toys and other children’s items.
During the course of these inspections, the agents had the collaboration of a judicial expert expert in trademarks who certified that the products for sale were really counterfeits.
Some children’s items stand out, to which special attention was paid given that they have not passed the mandatory quality controls that would guarantee the safety that their use by young minors entails, with the dangers that their lack could entail in some cases.
The total value of the counterfeit products seized would reach 6,344,127 euros in the current market and according to the Civil Guard, it is one of the largest operations against industrial property in the Canary Islands.
The operation has been carried out by 120 agents belonging to different units: Fiscal and Border Analysis Unit (UDAIFF) of the Fiscal Section of the Tenerife North and Tenerife South Airports, together with members of the Fiscal and Border Patrols (PAFIF’s) of the territorial Companies, as well as agents of the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police.
The investigation of the operation has been directed by the various courts of each of the districts in which the inspections were carried out, as well as the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
