In a major operation against counterfeit goods, Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officials on Wednesday searched three warehouses and an accounting office in Bangkok for smuggled counterfeit goods.
The search was carried out by four DSI teams with a warrant approved by the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court.
One team, led by Pol Maj Suriya Singhakamol, the DSI deputy director-general, searched a warehouse of PS Sport Cargo Company in Soi Chaeng Watthana 1 in Laksi district.
Piyasiri Watthanawarangkul, deputy chief of the Special Criminal Cases Office 1, led a second team in a search of the office and warehouse of Sun Water Rich Power Service Co in Tawanchai Housing Estate on Bang Bon 5 Road in Nong Khaem district.
Another team, led by Noppadol Ratanasathien, a special cases specialist, searched an accounting office on the 6th floor of S Group Building in Soi Phetchaburi 33 in Ratchathewi district.
Nopporn Prueksawan, a special cases investigator, led the fourth team to search a warehouse in Rat Burana district.
They seized a quantity of counterfeit goods such as handbags, shoes, clothes, cosmetics, car parts and motorcycle parts marked with well-known brand names. The value of the seized items was being assessed.
Pol Maj Suriya said the DSI had kept PS Sport Cargo and Sun Water Rich Power Service under watch and gathered evidence confirming they were part of a major network that smuggled into the country counterfeit products items, in violation of the Patent Rights Act and Trademark Act.
The goods had been distributed for sale at shopping centres such as in Sampheng, Pratunam and Bo Bay areas in Bangkok and Rong Kluea market in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district.
Apart from breaking intellectual property laws, smuggling of counterfeit items was also in beach of the Customs Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Pol Maj Suriya said.