Michel Arnoux
While it is common knowledge that one train can conceal another, the fact that an umbrella – not Bulgarian but Chinese – can conceal a fake watch, is less well known.
A day like any other in the port of Gênes... The official responsible for clearing goods through customs starts his day at a leisurely pace. He takes the first folder from the pile, a simple case just to get in the swing of things. The papers mention a container from China, 30,000 umbrellas divided into 620 packages: a straightforward, routine job. By way of an initial verification to calculate the customs duty, he must check that the number of declared packages corresponds to the number physically present. After counting and recounting, a difference of 28 packages remains unexplained. Our customs official quickly works out that this equates to no fewer than 3,000 surplus umbrellas. He immediately notifies his colleagues from the anti-fraud section who then take over the case. The great unpacking operation begins.
Anti-fraud officers, accustomed to nefarious practices, are not unduly surprised when they discover under the umbrellas 118 packets containing 27,412 counterfeit watches and nearly 50,000 different components (clasps, watch glasses, bars, case-backs, hands, bracelets etc). In addition, they find a package containing a workpiece support complete with tools, in particular punches for making marks on leather watch straps.
Two FH representatives were called in and made familiar with the details so that the usual expert assessments could be made. In the case in hand, the outcome held few surprises. The fake watches were poor quality timepieces intended to be sold on beaches and at other Italian tourist sites. They were manufactured in China and dispatched by sea to Italy, unmarked and partially assembled, accompanied by all the tools needed to complete the job. Clearly, a member of the network was meant to recover the packages from the freight forwarder, after customs clearance, for onward dispatch to a clandestine workshop. The quantities discovered give some idea of the capacities of the workshop in question. According to initial investigations, its likely location is Tuscany, within the triangle formed by Pisa, Florence and Empoli. Enquiries are ongoing with a view to unearthing its precise location. It's a good bet however that in the meantime its workers will have packed their bags and vanished.
This episode demonstrates clearly that traditional counterfeiting channels remain open. Clandestine workshops are still a reality in Europe and the Internet has not yet monopolised the distribution of fake goods. In addition, this example also illustrates the role of luck in successful seizures of goods. If the number of packages had been declared correctly, the counterfeit products would have been cleared through customs without a hitch and the fake watches would have remained umbrellas!
