£1.5m of fake goods seized in self-storage units

HAUL of fake goods worth more than £1.5 million have been seized before they flooded the Christmas market.

- KRISTY DAWSON

The items, which included Chanel, Bylgari and Vivienne Westwood jewellery, were found at a self-storage premises in Newcastle.

Trading Standards Officers visited on Monday after receiving a tip-off from Border Force.

They found hundreds of containers filled with illegal merchandise far exceeding anything they had seen before.

Further lorry loads of items were also arriving at the premises.

They believe the containers were acting as an illegal “fulfilment house” - a kind of stock warehouse filled with merchandise from China. Foot soldiers would then be sent to the house to collect goods labelled with bar codes and then despatch them throughout the UK, often not knowing what the product was.

Among the haul were Omega, Casio G Shock and Swatch watches, Chanel, Bvigari and Vivienne Westwood jewellery, Adidas, New Balance, On Cloud and Hoka trainers, Arc’teryx and Patagonia clothing, Dr Martens boots and Apple Air Pods.