Staffordshire trading standards seize goods worth £10-15m in single operation

The trading standards team at Staffordshire County Council has seized counterfeit goods worth between £10-15m, in what is thought to be one of the largest single seizures to have been made across the UK.

An operation carried out in partnership with Staffordshire Police discovered the goods – including counterfeit branded clothing – in a storage unit in Birmingham.

The raid followed intelligence obtained at markets in Staffordshire where trading standards seized counterfeit Beats by Dr Dre headphones.

Staffordshire’s cabinet member for communities Pat Corfield said: “Our trading standards officers and colleagues are confident they have smashed a major supply route in the manufacture and retail of counterfeit goods.

“The scale of this seizure is unprecedented and we believe it may be the biggest single seizure of counterfeit goods by a trading standards team anywhere in the country and certainly here in the Midlands.”

Cllr Corfield added: “People are at increasingly high risk of harm from fake goods, both physically through the sale of dangerous products and financially by paying for shoddy, substandard items, with no retailer’s exchange policy or manufacturer’s guarantee. The fakers invest very little in their products and, through clever marketing and pricing, make a huge profit.”