Pirate goods warehouses raided

PATONG: More than 50 officers from Bangkok’s Crime Suppression Division (CSD) netted more than 7,000 items of fake brand-name merchandise yesterday evening in raids on five warehouses near the market off Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd. The officers organized the raids after being tipped off by private investigators hired by popular brand-name companies. Raphee Chumprapa, who tracks down illegal copies of Nike, Adidas, Tommy Hilfiger and Lacoste merchandise, told the Gazette, “Police seized about 6,000 clothing and leatherwear items that were imitations of the products of the companies that I represent. If this merchandise were genuine, it would be worth about 12 million baht. “Most tourists who buy these goods know that they’re fake. Genuine Lacoste T-shirts cost about 2,000 baht each, but a copy is only 400 baht. This has a huge affect on the sale of genuine products,” he said. Pol Col Chalit Thintanee, Superintendent of Kathu Police station, said, “Besides the clothing and the leather goods, there were about 1,300 fake Rolex watches.” He added that pirate compact discs with movies, music or computer games were also seized in the raids. Although no arrests were made, caretakers from three of the warehouses were taken to Kathu Police station for questioning.