Hong Kong Ladies’ Market stalls shut down in customs raid on hawkers selling fake goods to tourists
- Four women held over counterfeit enterprise at one of city’s most popular attractions
- Customs recovers fake goods with street value of HK$4 million, three stalls closed down
Four women were arrested and HK$4 million worth of counterfeit goods seized as customs officers closed down hawker stalls suspected of selling fakes to tourists at the Ladies’ Market in Hong Kong.
Officers raided three stands at the attraction in Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok, and two nearby flats used for storage on Tuesday, customs said on Thursday.
Jacky Tsang Kin-bon, of Customs’ intellectual property general investigation division, said the haul of 9,400 items was made up of illegal copies of 20 famous brands, including handbags, wallets and leather belts, and had a street value of HK$4 million (US$514,000).
“Investigation showed they [the sellers] had been in operation for about two months,” he said.
“No counterfeit products were on display in the hawker stalls in an attempt to avoid our detection.”
The suspects only targeted certain tourists with the counterfeits and did not approach locals or mainland Chinese visitors in a bid to evade arrest.
