clothing ring Saturday, seizing over 10,000 fake Penguin brand garments with an estimated street value of over NT$100 million (US$3.24 million). Wu Chuan-hao, head of the Chiayi unit that conducted the raid, said the members of the ring will be prosecuted for violations of the Trademark Act.
Wu said that several months ago, members of the unit noticed that members of the ring often held going out of business clearance sales at the locations where they sold the brand-name clothing.
The IPR police suspected that the clothing might be counterfeit and began investigating, he said.
After receiving confirmation from the authorized seller of the brand-name clothing in Taiwan that the clothing was indeed counterfeit, the police and prosecutors launched raids on outlets in Chungpu township in Chiayi County and Taishan township in Taipei County, arresting several suspects, including 38-year-old Huang Chi, and seizing over 10,000 articles of clothing.
Police said the warehouse where the counterfeit clothing was stored covers over 330 square meters, adding that the ring made over NT$1 million per month in profit from selling the clothing, most of which originated in China.