60,000 counterfeit travel mugs seized in BKK raids

Most of us will have a branded 100 baht T-shirt somewhere in one of our drawers, maybe even a fake Louis Vuitton bag or wallet, or a Tag Heuer watch we haggled in a Patpong market for 1,500 baht. Fakes are everywhere in Thailand. But travel mugs? 60,000 travel mugs?!

Some 60,000 plastic coffee cups, tumblers and mugs bearing brand name logos have been confiscated from wholesale manufacturers and warehouses for intellectual property law violation.

The counterfeit items, to be supplied to distributors in Bangkok’s Sampheng Market, were worth an estimated Bt10 million in retail sales, although they could even fetch Bt60 million, Department of Special Investigation chief Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang told a press conference on Thursday.
Following complaints filed by representatives of the damaged businesses, officers on Wednesday afternoon launched the raids. They searched 10 Bangkok locations of the wholesale manufacturers and warehouses to seize the counterfeit items.
Nine suspects were arrested on charges of possessing with the intent to sell and distribute counterfeit goods and violating others’ intellectual property rights, Paisit said.

The confiscated travel mugs carried the logos of Manchester United Football Club, Liverpool Football Club, Starbucks, Doraemon and Harley Davidson.

STORY: The Nation