The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has seized 360,000 counterfeit goods in Nakhon Nayok province and Bang Bon district of Bangkok.
Crackdown operations took place at 12 locations in markets in Nakhon Nayok and a Bang Bon district warehouse, DSI deputy director-general Pol Lt Col Phayao Thongsen said yesterday.
The counterfeit goods confiscated by police in the raids are collectively believed to have a street value of about 120 million baht, he said.
Pol Lt Col Phayao said the DSI has been working with Satyapon & Partners Ltd, a full-service intellectual law firm, to uncover key locations selling counterfeit items.
A tip-off led the DSI to Rong Kluea and the coin markets in Nakhon Nayok where 300,000 fake items bearing expensive brand names such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Coach were confiscated.
Counterfeit goods from the Rong Kluea Market are also sold and distributed online, Pol Lt Col Phayao said.
In Bangkok, the DSI discovered more than 60,000 fake brand-name jeans in a warehouse in the Bang Bon area.
A Satyapon & Partners Ltd representative told the media that this was the DSI's largest seizure of fake items.
The counterfeit goods are imported from a neighbouring country, said the police, adding that they were also illegally imported and avoided paying 25% import fees.
Pol Lt Col Phayao said the government has stressed the importance of cracking down on counterfeit items in a bid to remove the country from a US Trade Representative watch list.
Being on the watchlist has resulted in trade benefits with the US being suspended under the Special 301 provision of the Trade Act.
This has had a negative impact on not only the economy but also the image of the country, Pol Lt Col Phayao said.
Given such a situation, DSI director-general Triyarith Temahivong was instructed to suppress intellectual property infringements.