In case the link doesn't work, here is the article:
A weekend raid by Toronto Police has shut down several allegedly criminal operations and reportedly taken thousands of counterfeit goods off the city's streets.
"This is the largest coordinated series of raids that we've been involved in across Canada," promised anti-counterfeit lawyer Lorne Lipkus.
A team of police, private investigators and lawyers were part of the weekend raid, and only
Citynews cameras caught the massive bust.
"This importer was distributing all brands of luxury goods from Burberry,
Gucci, Chanel Louis Vuitton,
Prada, just about every brand has been seen at this seizure," Lipkus said.
Three people alone were arrested from one store on Spadina. The suspects include importers right down to the store clerks.
"There's been eight people arrested so far, we've ceased approximately $10 million worth of goods," said Toronto Police vice Det. Const. Joe Male.
Arrests were made all over the GTA including at a home in North York, a storage facility on Finch and three shops on Spadina were targeted including one where police allege counterfeits were being manufactured out of a basement.
"In the basement we found that they we're actually printing the labels and sewing them on the shoes creating the boxes for Nike," said Male added.
Lipkus insists selling counterfeit goods is a major offence in Canada.
"The companies that are manufacturing legitimate products see this as a huge problem getting bigger," he said. "Counterfeiters are coming in and ripping the real companies off by billions and billions of dollars."
An anti-counterfeit conference is being held in Toronto on Tuesday.
Consumer specialist Jee Yun Lee will have a full wrap on
CityNews at 6 including how these crackdowns are carried out.
