Customs seize $10 million in counterfeit goods

Fake watches, handbags, memory sticks, jewellery, and more have been seized by Turkish customs in a crackdown on the booming bootleg business



Ankara - Sixty five thousand fake watches from Hong Kong are among the counterfeit goods valued at 23 million Turkish lira ($10.5 million), seized by Turkish customs officers in the biggest haul of counterfeit goods, the customs ministry announced on Friday. The goods seized also include five thousand fake handbags, 500 memory sticks, 470 kilos of jewellery, 750 metal card holders and 76 kilos of cuff links.The goods, now in Istanbul´s Ambarli custom office, were hidden in a cargo of suitcases from Hong Kong, the ministry said in a statement. The brand names of the watches are Rolex, Audemars, Piguet, Zenith, Longines, Bvlgari and Franck Muller.