The Macau Customs Service (SA) busted on Wednesday a parallel-trading den in the Barrier Gate area selling fake jewellery worth about three million patacas if it was genuine.
According to a press conference at the SA headquarters in Barra on Friday, when investigating a suspected copyright infringement case, the Macau Customs Service recently uncovered that a shop in the Barrier Gate area was suspected of operating a parallel-trading business, where parallel traders could purchase pieces of counterfeit Hermès jewellery on a “pre-paid basis” and then smuggle them to the mainland for a “commission”, ranging from 40 yuan to 80 yuan per item of jewellery. They also received a refund of the money they had paid when buying the items from the shop.
In the operation, the press conference noted, a total of 547 items of suspected bogus jewellery were seized from the shop, of which 486 pieces had been confirmed to be counterfeit, while the remaining items were still awaiting identification results at the time of the press conference. The bogus pieces of jewellery were sold at prices ranging from 3,300 patacas to 6,000 patacas.
According to the press conference, Macau customs officers arrested on that day the shop owner – a Hong Kong man, aged 25, surnamed Yip – and two shop assistants from the mainland – a 26-year-old male surnamed Huang and a 28-year-old male surnamed Luo. The trio entered Macau as visitors on Tuesday, and none of them had valid documents proving that they had the right to work in Macau. All of them have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation.
Under questioning, Yip admitted to renting the shop on the day he had entered Macau to store and sell the suspected counterfeit jewellery which, he claimed, was supplied by an “unknown” seller and collected in the vicinity of the Barrier Gate area, adding that about 10 items of jewellery had been sold since the start of the parallel-trading operation on Thursday.
Evidence seized from a parallel-trading den infringing Hermès jewellery products, which the Macau Customs Service (SA) busted on Wednesday at a shop in the Barrier Gate area, is on display during Friday’s press conference at the SA headquarters in Barra. – Photo: MPDG
