The police in Gauteng continue to make inroads in dealing with counterfeit goods and contraband.

On Wednesday, the police consisting of various units including Public Order Policing, Commercial Crime, Crime Intelligence, Crime Prevention in partnership with other law enforcement agencies such as Gauteng Traffic Police, Tshwane Metro Police Department, Wardens, Brand Protectors and Customs (SARS) conducted a search and seizure operation at Marabastad, in Pretoria, with the aim of addressing peddling and dealing of counterfeit and contraband goods.

Over the years, Marabastad has been a business district with a lot of consumers coming to buy clothing items and other goods however, a number of businesses allegedly owned by foreign nationals, are running illegal businesses of selling counterfeit goods.

To address this, the team seized clothing items and other goods with notable brands from both local and international to an estimated street value of about R13.7 million.

Three people were arrested for contravening the Immigration Act.

It is a criminal offence for a business to seek profit or use someone’s trademark without permission and the counterfeit goods Act 37 of 1997 prohibits such sales as this has a negative impact on the economy of the country.

“The police in Gauteng will continue unabated with these kind of operations to disrupt the counterfeit goods market,” the South African Police Service said in a statement.

The community is urged not to buy counterfeit goods and to report any criminal activities to their nearest police station or by calling Crime Stop on 08600 10111. Anonymous tip-offs can be directed to MySAPS App. Tipsters may opt to remain anonymous.

Source: South African Government News Agency