Council Leader welcomes clothing raid!

A number of raids on premises in Newbold, Rochdale, led to the seizure of 300 cartons of counterfeit footwear and clothing with an estimated value of £500,000.

Rochdale Council trading standards officers teamed up with police officers and with representatives of the trademark holders in carrying out the raids on four premises on Tuesday 1 August.

Among the counterfeits seized from five traders were faked brand names including Prada, Nike, Timberland and Armani.

During the raids three people were arrested.

Information leading to the raids came from a survey carried out by all Greater Manchester Trading Standards authorities, when test purchases were made. These were confirmed by more test purchases made in conjunction with trade mark holders.

If the items seized had been legitimate product they would have been worth an estimated £500,000 in the high street. Sales of the goods would have resulted in a profit of around £200,000 to the alleged counterfeiters.

Andy Glover, of the Council's Trading Standards Service: "Trading Standards is committed to tackling the sale of counterfeit goods in Rochdale, and will work with the police and trade mark holders to investigate counterfeiting activity.

"Offenders should be warned, anyone convicted of counterfeiting can receive a hefty fine or imprisonment."

Leader of Rochdale Council - Councillor Alan Taylor said,

"I am delighted to see Trading Standards working with Greater Manchester Police in Rochdale. These Counterfeit goods only serve to push up prices with genuine retailers and unfortunately people make alot of money on websites like Ebay - these products are shoddy and second rate. I would hope that these raids send a clear message to people who are peddling such goods that this Council and the Police will not tolerate their actions."