A man was arrested for selling fake mobile phones in Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro (aka “San Ma Lou” in Cantonese – “New Road”) on Friday, according to a statement by the Macau Customs Service (SA) on Saturday.
The statement identified the suspect as a 41-year-old male mainlander, adding that he was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation.
According to the statement, the man was intercepted by customs officers in San Ma Lou on Friday on suspicion of selling counterfeit mobile phones of well-known brands, and a total of three counterfeit mobile phones were seized from him.
Under questioning, the suspect admitted that he had purchased three counterfeit mobile phones in the mainland and brought them into Macau to sell for profit, and that he had sold one of them earlier to a pedestrian in San Ma Lou, the statement said.
Customs officers seized the other two bogus mobile phones from him, with a total retail value of about 30,000 patacas if the phones were genuine.
The statement underlined that the sale of products infringing intellectual property rights (IP) is a criminal offence, punishable by a maximum penalty of five years or imprisonment upon conviction.
The Macau Customs Service urged members of the public who have information on intellectual property right infringement activities to send an email to info@customs.gov.mo or call the 24-hour reporting hotline 2896 5001.
This handout photo provided by the Macau Customs Service (SA) on Saturday shows three fake phones seized by customs officers.
