- Three people charged, two of Chinese nationality and one Spanish

- These are counterfeit handbags, purses and belts from Gucci, Armani, Boss, Guess, Louis Vuitton and Burberry.

At the beginning of December, the Tax Agency in Valencia dismantled a smuggling organisation that was trying to introduce a shipment of luxury brand products counterfeited in China into the European Union. The operation involved a container with a total of 30,000 handbags, belts and wallets from well-known brands with an estimated value of 10 million euros.

The counterfeit goods had been manufactured in China. Coming from the port of Huangpu in the southern city of Guangzhou, it had arrived by sea in Valencia on 26 November and was headed for Italy.

The Tax Agency carries out a risk profile analysis of all imports made in the national territory, taking into account the country of origin, type of product, parties involved and many other characteristics of the commercial operation. In this case, the analysis of the documentation raised the suspicions of the Agency officials, who proceeded to seize the counterfeit products at the facilities owned by the carrier of the container with the merchandise in the town of Ribarroja (Valencia).

The carrier, in response to questions from the Tax Agency Customs Surveillance officials involved in the operation, reported the imminent arrival of another vehicle, which would be responsible for transporting the container to Italy, its end-use.

The counterfeit goods have already been brought before the courts and the affected brands (Gucci, Armani, Boss, Guess, Louis Vuitton and Burberry), owners of the rights to represent and market the products, have certified that they are indeed counterfeits.

As a result of the operation, three people have been charged, two of them Chinese nationals, living in Valencia and Italy, and one of Spanish nationality. Investigations are still ongoing and new seizures of counterfeit goods are not ruled out in the coming days.

More than 300 million so far this year

The social damage caused by clandestine trade is relevant both for public coffers, which suffer a decrease in revenue, and for legal manufacturers and merchants, given that clandestine trade does not pay taxes and, therefore, its commercial margin is artificially competitive. To combat this phenomenon, the Tax Agency has made the fight against counterfeiting one of its preferred areas of research. Between January and November 2012, the agency has seized 1,750,000 counterfeit products, with an estimated value of 309 million euros. The main products seized are detailed below:

- Watches:  54,710 units with a value of €227.5 million
- Bags and boxes (purses, etc.):  137,476 units with a value of €36.3 million
- Clothing (including sportswear) and clothing accessories:   321,422 units with a value of €17.2 million
- Perfumes, cosmetics and body care products: 169,878 units with a value of €6.0 million
- Glasses (including sunglasses): 45,841 units with a value of €5.9 million.
- Footwear (including sports): 57,325 units with a value of €4.0 million.
- Video/audio equipment (including its components): 45,536 units with a value of €3.5 million.
- Mobile phones (including components and accessories): 124,860 units with a value of €2.2 million.
- Toys and games (including electronic ones): 100,251 units with a value of €2.1 million.
- Office products: 193,485 units with a value of €1.8 million
- Jewelry: 49,507 units with a value of €1.1 million.
- Other products: 448,773 units with a value of €1.6 million.
TOTAL: 1,749,064 units with a value of €309.3 million.

The operation carried out in Valencia at the beginning of the month follows a series of notable actions that have been carried out in recent years, such as the intervention in the port of Algeciras in July 2011 of three containers with more than 25,000 counterfeit shoes with an estimated value of more than seven million euros.

A year earlier, in July 2010, the Tax Agency seized more than 300,000 counterfeit products valued at 25 million euros in the port of Alicante, while in 2008, also in Algeciras, six containers were detected with more than 231,000 counterfeit items from China and destined for Morocco, with a value of more than 144 million euros.