The Abu Dhabi Police confiscated counterfeit designer goods including handbags, wallets, watches, and belts worth about Dh6 million ($1.63 million) during a raid at a residential building in the UAE capital.

Three Bangladeshi nationals were caught in the joint operation conducted in co-ordination with the Department of Economic Development, said a statement from The Abu Dhabi Police.

During the raid, the team stumbled upon a secret door in one of the apartments, which then led to passageways wherein the about 30,000 fake designer items had been stored, it added.
 
Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammad Borshid, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said: "The seized goods bearing the logos of well-known brands were hidden in three apartments, in one residential building, one of which contained passageways leading to invisible storage rooms, behind wooden shelves, to stash the counterfeit goods."

All the three Bangladeshi men have been arrested and are now being interrogated.

The CID head said the fake goods comprised shawls, ties, hats, pens, shoes, sunglasses, perfumes, accessories, jewellery, clothes, medicine and supplements.

Boxes printed with international brands and fake guarantees were also found in the apartment, he added.

Colonel Borshid said the UAE has been a pioneer in enacting laws aimed at combating counterfeit goods and other commercial fraud.

On the modus operandi, Lt. Colonel Taher Al Dhaheri, the chief of Organized Crime Section at CID, said the three suspects, identified as MA - 34, MM - 32, and MG - 45 usually struck a deal with potential customers and then bought them to their apartments where the money changed hands.
 
The estimated market value of the seized goods was about Dh6 million ($1.63 million).-TradeArabia News Service