1,500 fake watches are seized on the way to Texas

C.B.P. News Release

CBP Louisville Seizes More Than $900K in Counterfeit Watches

(Tuesday, June 28, 2011)

Louisville, IL - Louisville Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers working at the UPS express consignment facility recently seized a shipment of counterfeit watches with a Manufacture’s Suggested Retail Price of $933,318. The shipment, imported from China, infringed upon the intellectual property rights of Armani, Cartier, Lacoste and Breitling corporations.

“This is an outstanding example of how we protect the American public from high priced sub standard counterfeit goods,â€

1,500 fake watches are seized on the way to Texas

Associated Press
June 29, 2011, 11:34AM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Federal officials say counterfeit watches on their way to Texas have been seized at a UPS facility in Kentucky.

A statement Tuesday from U.S. Customs and Border Protection said agents seized the shipment of 1,500 watches with an estimated value of nearly $1 million last week in Louisville.

The watches from China were replicas of name-brand models from companies like Armani, Cartier, Lacoste and Breitling, according to the statement.

They were found in three parcels on their way to a business in Texas. Brian Bell, a U.S. Customs spokesman in Chicago, declined to tell The Courier-Journal the name of the business or its location. He said the case is still being investigated.

Bell says about 1.5 million packages go through the UPS facility monthly and every international package is inspected and X-rayed.

Mike Mangeot, a UPS spokesman, said the company “takes security very seriouslyâ€