Customs officials seize a large quantity of suspected counterfeit goods at Tra Linh International Border Gate in Cao Bang Province on June 17. Photo by the General Department of Customs.
According to a report from the General Department of Customs, on June 17 officers at the Tra Linh Border Gate inspected a container shipment arriving from China. The manifest declared the shipment as general consumer goods with a total weight of over 24 tonnes.
However, during the inspection, authorities discovered a significant amount of undeclared merchandise. Among the items were 450 wristwatches suspected of infringing the Rolex trademark.
The container also contained various undeclared general merchandise, including cosmetics, lighters, power banks, bras, and car lights. At the time of inspection, the transporting company failed to present any documentation related to the intellectual property rights of the goods in question.
Preliminary assessments identified the 450 watches as counterfeit Rolex products, with an estimated market value of approximately VND 45 billion (approximately USD 1.77 million).
A counterfeit Rolex watch seized. Photo by the General Department of Customs.
Between June 1 and 15, authorities at Tra Linh Border Gate uncovered four similar cases. Seized goods included over 5,700 fashion items bearing counterfeit trademarks of well-known brands such as Tommy, Nike, Celine, Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, Adidas, and New Balance.
Notably, more than 700 pairs of counterfeit Adidas and New Balance sneakers were also falsely labelled “Made in Vietnam”.
All cases are currently under further investigation by the General Department of Customs and will be handled in accordance with Vietnamese law.
