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Fake Rolex And Other Watches Valued at $1.3 Million Seized by Customs Officials at LAX June 12, 2023 (0 comments)
Los Angeles, CA--U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized 41 watches bearing counterfeit luxury trademarks. If genuine, the seized watches would have had a retail value of nearly $1.3 million.
The watches arrived in individual packages via air cargo from China to destinations across the United States, and were discovered during a period of five weeks, from April 12 to May 22, CBP said in a press release. To evade detection by CBP officials, the watches were “misdeclared” as “Bracelet,” “Belt,” “Decoration,” “Watch Box,” and “Wall Clock.”
[CBP officer holds fake Rolex watches. Photo by CBP]
The watches infringed the following registered trademarks that had been recorded for border enforcement through CBP’s e-Recordation program: Rolex (37 pieces), Luminor Panerai (1 piece), Patek Philippe (1 piece), Audemars Piguet (1 piece) and Omega (1 piece), according to the CBP press release.
CPB officials worked with worked with Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Air Centralized Examination Station (Air-CES), in coordination with import specialists to seize the fake watches.
Nationwide in fiscal year 2022, CBP seized nearly 21,000 shipments containing 25 million individual goods that violated intellectual property rights. The total estimated retail value of the seized goods, had they been genuine, was nearly $3 billion, CBP said in its statement. Watches and jewelry were the top products seized in terms of total retail value with seizures valued at over $1.14 billion, representing 38.49% of the total.
Read the full CBP press release