Ministry seizes counterfeit items
by Margaret Ringgit. Posted on September 23, 2011, Friday
SEIZED: Zakaria (centre), flanked by his officers, hold some of the confiscated items at the press conference.
MIRI: Suspected counterfeit items worth RM22,180 have been confiscated from six premises here in an operation from 2pm to 5pm Wednesday by enforcement officers from the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism.
The enforcement chief Zakaria Awang said that among the items seized were T-shirts, shoes, slippers and bags carrying the Adidas brand name.
He said that nine premises were inspected but only six were found selling the counterfeit items. Representatives from Adidas here were also present during the raid.
“We had received complaint from Adidas about the sale of the counterfeit Adidas products at several premises in the city. And acting on the report lodged, we conducted the raid,” he told a press conference at his office here yesterday
Selling counterfeit item is an offence framed under Section 3(1)(b) of the Trade Description Act 1972, which carries a fine of RM100,000 (for individual) or three years’ jail or both on conviction or RM250,000 for company.
“With the latest seizure, we have recorded 16 of such cases here with items valued at RM49,000,” Zakaria said.
Overall, 44 cases (for various offences) with merchandise worth RM224,854 have been recorded by the ministry here so far this year.
“In most cases the items were sold 50 per cent cheaper than the prize of the original products,” he added.
