Macau Customs Service (SA) officers seized 32 bottles of counterfeit Moutai in two shops in Nape and the city centre on Wednesday respectively, Customs Service Intellectual Property Rights Department Chief Lee Sze Ngar said during a press conference yesterday at the Customs Service headquarters in Barra, adding that if the bottles of Moutai were genuine, they could have been retailed for about 230,000 patacas in total.
Moutai (aka Maotai) is a style of baijiu (“white alcohol”) – a distilled Chinese liquor – produced in the town of Maotai in Guizhou province.
The Customs Service on Wednesday received a report from an agent that imports Moutai saying it suspected that the two shops mainly selling Chinese medicinal liquor, ginseng and dried seafood were selling fake Moutai, involving intellectual property (IP) rights infringement, Lee said, adding that customs officers dispatched to the scene confiscated 32 bottles of the suspected bogus Moutai totalling 52 litres and arrested five salespeople – four local women and a male non-resident worker (NRW) from the mainland.
After identification, 31 of the 32 bottles seized have been confirmed as fake products, while the remaining one was still being tested, Lee noted.
According to Lee, the five suspects, aged between 31 and 44, claimed that they did not know that the bottles of Moutai were counterfeit, insisting that the bottles were only displayed in the stops and were not for sale.
The quintet, who failed to show any documents declaring the import and sales records of the seized goods, have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), Lee noted, who added that the five suspects could face a hefty fine and up to six months in jail.
The Customs Service is continuing its investigation to trace the whereabouts of a local man, who was identified as the owner of the two shops.
Anyone who suspects that he or she has bought counterfeit alcoholic beverages should inform the Customs Service immediately, Lee underlined.
32 bottles of counterfeit Moutai confiscated on Wednesday are displayed during yesterday’s press conference at the Macau Customs Service’s headquarters in Barra.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
