Counterfeit goods targeted
2011-02-10
Lise Beyers
A ZERO-TOLERANCE stance towards traders of illegal goods will now be upheld. This is the message that Paarl police sent out last week when they descended upon the CBD taking note of especially goods sold by hawkers, as well as second-hand shops. With the help of members of the municipal law enforcers various items such as counterfeit shoes, clothes and sunglasses were seized, as well as poison. This poison is sold under the brand ‘Green Leaf Powder’ which is used as a cockroach deterrent. It is however extremely toxic and cases have precisely been reported where children have become seriously ill after having ingested the ‘sweet’ looking poison. Almost 3000 packets of Green Leaf were confiscated. Perpetrators were given a fine for trading with illegal goods. On the same day the police received a complaint from a member of public about the wheelings and dealings at second-hand shops. The complainant, who wishes not to be named, said that he had been employed by the Pakistani owner of MultiCel and Leather in Lady Grey Street. He had witnessed how the shop owner had bought evidently stolen cellular phones and lap-top computers and written them up merely as repairs and not bought goods, thus side-stepping the law which holds that businesses which buy second-hand goods have to keep a register with the full particulars and identity number of the seller. The police descended upon these premises, but it led to a dead-end. This is presumably because such businesses get rid of stolen goods very quickly, exactly to escape suspicious police officers. A spokesperson for the Paarl police, Capt Louise du Plessis, said that such operations will now regularly take place between the police and relevant departments to eradicate counterfeit goods in the CBD.
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