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Customs officers said they had seized about 230,000 items, including 30,000 suspected fake jerseys, with an estimated market value of around $25 million. Photo by AFP |
Eighty percent of the items seized were intended for export to the Americas, where the tournament kicks off June 11, the authorities said.
Customs officers said they had seized about 230,000 items, including 30,000 suspected fake jerseys, with an estimated market value of around HK$156 million ($19.9 million)
Some of the goods were seized at border crossings connecting Hong Kong with mainland China.
Many of the shirts seized were “highly authentic-looking”, said Wayne Chung, an official from the city’s intellectual property investigation bureau.
“General customers would find it hard to distinguish the fakes from the real ones,” he added.
Hong Kong officials said the smuggling activities were linked to the recent surge in demand from football fans.
They warned they would step up enforcement efforts.
In March, customs officers seized another batch of counterfeit shirts, including jerseys of defending world champions Argentina.
This year’s competition, co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States, is the biggest World Cup in history, finishing in New Jersey on July 19.