Customs officers on Wednesday said they arrested seven people for allegedly selling suspected counterfeit items worth HK$1 million.

This came as officers conducted raids at eight hawker stalls in Yau Ma Tei last Thursday and eight such stalls in Mong Kok on Tuesday to crack down on the sale of fake goods ahead of the National Day Golden Week holiday next month.

They seized about 1,300 suspected fake products, including handbags, clothing and toys.

Investigator Lo Ming-ho from the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau said the counterfeit items were as low as a quarter of the cost of the genuine ones.

There was also a notable difference in quality, while officers said the arrangement of teeth on suspected fake Labubu dolls was also substandard.

“For instance, genuine ones were meticulously made, with nine teeth arranged evenly and neatly,” he said.

“On the contrary, fake ones usually have the wrong number of teeth and are unevenly arranged. Moreover, glue and paint were applied unevenly.”

As for the packaging, Lo said authentic items had sharp and clean lines, while fake ones looked blurry and off colour.

He went on to say that genuine goods also came with a void label on their packaging for buyers to check for authenticity.

Lo said customs authorities would continue to step up patrols and carry out enforcement actions to combat the sale of counterfeit items ahead of the long holiday to safeguard the rights of locals and inbound visitors.

He added that investigations are still underway and did not rule out further arrests.



Edited by Tony Sabine