FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Local Ports Flooded With

Counterfeit Merchandise

Customs agents seize bogus sneakers, purses - August 07, 2007

Article Taken From The Star-Ledger

Researched By: Eric Townes

It was a ploy veteran customs officers had come across many times on the docks in New York Harbor. While inspecting a refrigerated cargo container, they detected a false wall.  Usually, this meant one thing - there was cocaine being smuggled in a secret compartment. But this time, there was something different in the stash. Hundreds of pairs of counterfeit Nike sneakers.

That recent incident reflected the dramatic increase in seizures of counterfeit and other illegal goods at the port terminals in Newark, Elizabeth and New York City, said federal officials. "We've already set a record and we've got two months left in the (fiscal) year," said Bill Ferri, U.S. Customs' branch chief for seaport operations.

From Oct. 1 through last week, customs officers in New York Harbor made about 270 seizures of goods worth $63.5 million, officials said.  In comparison, in fiscal year 2006, they made about 135 seizures of $42.4 million in goods. In 2005, there were about 70 seizures of goods worth $20.6 million. By far, counterfeit footwear has been the most common item found by customs officers, accounting for more than half the seizures. Next are handbags, followed by clothing, tobacco and electrical supplies.

Customs officials attributed the surge in counterfeit seizures to the increase in shipments from China and other Asian countries that have track records of producing bogus merchandise. Also, they said, improved intelligence about counterfeiting operations has boosted the number of seizures. At Port Newark, customs officers displayed some recently seized items to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, who is touring ports around the country as he prepares a federal strategy for improving port safety.

Among the items he saw were electrical extension cords that were fire hazards because they lacked requisite safety devices; bogus name-brand toothpaste and shampoo containers, and imported toy guns that lacked a red tip required to alert law enforcement that they are not real firearms.

Leavitt also checked out some of the vehicle and cargo inspection systems that customs officers use at the port. "There are more things going through here than the average American can possibly be aware of," said Leavitt.

In July, on the heels of a series of cases involving tainted food from China, President Bush put Leavitt in charge of a committee that is supposed to devise a new strategy for import safety. "Our food supply chain is already the safest in the world," said Leavitt. "To keep it that way, we have to constantly refine what we're doing."