Hong Kong customs officers arrest nine people and seize HK$5million of fake goods in raid at Mong Kok market

Customs officials smashed a counterfeit goods syndicate in a popular tourist destination in Mong Kok when they closed down six stalls and six warehouses on Thursday.

In the operation codenamed “Torpedo”, officers netted 10,000 fake goods worth HK$5 million along Tung Choi Street, popularly known as Ladies’ Market.

Customs officials said the fake goods included handbags, watches, leather goods and sunglasses and were of medium to high quality. They were priced at about one-third that of the genuine items.

Nine people – including a 22-year-old man believed to be the racket’s mastermind – were arrested.

The department launched an investigation in mid-2015 when detectives found vendors had been selling counterfeits secretly to tourists.

Superintendent Guy Fong Wing-kai, head of the Customs Intellectual Property Investigation (Operations), said the syndicate had employed various tactics to avoid detection.

It sourced fake goods from the mainland and stored the items in warehouses. Salespeople at the six stalls sold generic miscellaneous goods on the surface and hid a small amount of samples in drawers and polyethylene boxes.